


паук ребенок (Spider-Baby)

by sleepysakura



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Family, Field Trip, Gen, Harley Keener & Peter Parker are Siblings, Harley Keener is a Good Bro, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker's Field Trip to Stark Industries, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Avengers, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:41:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28228557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepysakura/pseuds/sleepysakura
Summary: Peter Parker hides a lot from his extended family, for the sake of his pride and self sacrificing ass. Throw in a guilt complex and you’ve got an adorable, sunshine child who’s the love of everyone’s life, especially Tony Stark’s. So when Peter’s AcaDec Team gets the chance to visit his second home, Peter realized he’s screwed. Let’s see where the Spider-Baby’s journey takes him.
Relationships: Bruce Banner & Peter Parker, Clint Barton & Peter Parker, Harley Keener & Peter Parker, Harley Keener & Peter Parker & Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Natasha Romanov, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Wanda Maximoff & Peter Parker
Comments: 29
Kudos: 345





	1. Peter Parker Is Screwed

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this is the overdone Field Trip trope, but I really enjoyed reading these and wanted to try it out myself and figured why not post on ao3 for the first time? Hope you enjoy <3

Peter Parker was known to be a lot of things.

A loving nephew and friend, member of his high school’s academic decathlon team, on track of being the next valedictorian of his class, and an intern for the world’s richest billionaire (though there was still quite a lot of skepticism about that one).

Oh, and New York’s newest vigilante superhero, Spider-Man.

There wasn’t much that the boy couldn’t do, considering his intellect and enhanced senses. He could practically solve a math equation within a few minutes while catching an arrow being thrown at him.

Which he has.

Not that anyone knew, but still.

It was something.

There was just one thing that Peter Parker couldn’t do. And that was waking up and getting to school on time.

Technically two things, but the point still stands.

“Peter, wake up! You’re gonna be late again!” A woman called, sighing as she glanced at the time. She loved her nephew with all her being, but the boy was going to give her gray hairs one day.

The boy groaned softly, his eyes immediately shutting again when he saw the bright sun through his window.

How many hours did he get tonight? Three? Two? Peter forced himself to open his eyes, looking over at his alarm clock, which read 7:43. Approximately three hours of sleep, with less than twenty minutes to get to school before he was late. Again.

Being Spider-Man and doing nightly patrols were going to be the cause of his death. Or expulsion.

Nonetheless, he pulled himself out of his bed, plucking a random sweatshirt and jeans from his closet before heading to the bathroom. Anyone within three feet of Peter could notice the tiredness in his eyes, the noticeable bags starting to darken underneath his brown eyes.

It wasn’t his fault really; he insisted on doing patrol and just ended up losing track of time, per usual.

Okay, maybe it was his fault. But he didn’t pick crime in New York.

After quickly brushing his teeth and running a hand through his hand to smooth out his curls, Peter emerged from the bathroom, greeting his aunt with a chirpy “Morning, May!”

“Hey, sweetheart.” May chuckled, pouring some cereal into a bowl for him and adding some milk. “Eat up, you don’t want to be late.”

Peter quickly started to stuff his face, his metabolism working overtime to process it.

“Tanfs.” He said around a mouthful of Fruit Loops.

“Are you going to the Tower after school?” May asked. “If not, you can order a pizza, cause I’ll be working late tonight.”

The teenage boy nodded, knowing exactly what he was supposed to do. May often wanted to work extra shifts, even going on the company business trips in order to provide for the boy’s schooling and activities. Peter hated that his aunt worked so much for his sake, but at least she enjoyed her job. On nights where May wasn’t home, Peter would usually head over to Stark Industries, tinkering in a lab with Mr. Stark himself or Dr. Banner, or simply spending time with the rest of the Avengers.

He still couldn’t believe he was able to say that, Peter thought to himself, drinking the rest of the milk before plopping the bowl in the sink.

“I’ll see you tomorrow after school then?” She asked, kissing him on the forehead. Peter nodded, giving her a half smile as he went to grab his rather heavy backpack.

“Bye, May! Love you!” He called, waving to the woman as he left the apartment.

“Love you too!” May called, chuckling softly at her nephew’s antics.

~

“Parker!” A taunting voice called out to the boy, a vicious smirk undoubtedly plastered on the popular boy’s face. Flash pulled his backpack over his shoulder, spotting his victim at his locker, who was doing his best to tune out the boy’s voice. “Yo, Parker!”

The boy groaned in annoyance, quickly switching out his history textbook for his chemistry and physics textbooks respectively, preparing for his next two periods before lunch. His best friend sent him an encouraging smile, making an effort to step in front of Flash’s view of Peter.

“Do you want to come to my house after practice today? My cousin got me the LEGO Mos Eisley Cantina set for my birthday!” Ned asked, nudging his best friend in an effort to distract him from Flash’s comments.

Peter’s brown eyes widened with surprise and shock, a smile forming on his face as he shut his locker quickly, turning to Ned. “No way! Are you serious? How many pieces?”

“Three thousand eighty-seven!” He announced proudly, a smile crossing his face when he saw Peter brighten up. “So you in?”

“Of course! May’s gone tonight anyways. I was supposed to go to the tower, but I can just tell Mr. Stark I’m staying with you.” Peter shrugged, excitement rising in his stomach.

He couldn’t wait to finally just spend some quality time with his best friend; ever since his ‘internship’ started to get more hectic as Mr. Stark gave him more privileges, the only time he really saw Ned was at school and the occasional sleepover.

“Orrr...you could ask him if I can come over..?” Ned asked, a gleam in his eye at the possibility of even entering Stark Industries, looking at all the gadgets and technology that probably wouldn’t be out yet until Thor knows when. Peter automatically shook his head at the suggestion, the idea of it too crazy to hear.

“No, no, nope. No. Absolutely not.”

“Why not?! He knows I helped you at Homecoming, doesn’t he?”

His best friend’s silence was somewhat deafening to his ears.

“Peter, he does know what happened at Homecoming, right?”

Peter shifted his bag on his shoulder, not meeting the boy’s eyes as he mumbled a “no.”

“He doesn’t know?!” Ned hissed, his eyes wide.

Surely, Peter would’ve told him he was crushed by a concrete roof. Or the school buses almost smashing him when he was suitless. Or-

“Nobody knows! If Mr. Stark found out, he’d take away my suit again! And May would freak out!” Peter defended himself, looking around to make sure nobody else heard their hushed argument. “And you know when she freaks out, I freak out.”

Ned sighed in both worry and annoyance, looking over at his friend with a mixed expression. He knew one day Peter would break. I mean, who wouldn’t? Between being Spider-Man, being an actual intern for Tony Stark, studying and doing homework to be on top of his class, dealing with Flash’s bullying, and still having time for extracurriculars (granted, he had to quit some of his activities already but still) and friends, Peter was going to break down sooner or later. But he knew it was how Peter handled everything in his life with kindness that he was friends with him. He knew Peter was more than capable of fighting back against Flash, but he didn’t in fear of hurting the kid back. Of course, he deserved it, but Peter wouldn't dare touch him with his enhanced abilities.

“All right, fine, let’s just go to my house then.” Ned finally relented as the bell rang, giving them an escape from Flash, who was only a few feet away.

“Come on.” Peter gave him a half smile, hurrying away with his friend to chemistry before Flash could call out a snide comment.

~

Peter usually loved physics. It was his favorite class for a reason; everything was just so interesting and made sense, having a correct formula and equation for each problem. But ever since interning with Mr. Stark, he quickly began advancing his knowledge and studies to the point he was unable to focus in class, solely for the reason that he was bored.

“Mr. Parker?” Ms. Warren called, raising a skeptical brow when she noticed the student’s lack of attention. “The answer?”

Peter suddenly sat up, blinking the dreariness out of his eyes as he glanced at the board, seeing an example question over the ionization energy of a hydrogen atom in its fifth excited state.

“0.38 eV, Miss.” he answered smoothly, only hoping that this was the question she had been asking.

Ms. Warren’s eyebrow raised itself again, a look of slight surprise crossing her face before nodding slowly. “Correct, Mr. Parker. I see you're quite the expert on this subject.”

Peter blushed softly at the stares of his classmates, shocked that he was able to answer the question with such ease. Flash shot him a murderous glare, mouthing “you’re dead, Penis” before turning around in his seat. Peter only shifted in his seat, mumbling a weak response to his teacher’s compliment before fiddling with his pencil.

When the lesson was finally over and the students were given a few minutes at the end of the period to work, Peter was pelted with a paper ball. He snapped his head up in annoyance as he caught it, looking over at Flash, who was busy talking with his goonies. He unraveled the ball, which showed him a rough sketch of himself, a shy smile on his face when he answered the question correctly earlier. Peter peered at the drawing, which had a scrawl of “good job, loser :P” underneath the sketch.

Peter knew who threw it.

The boy looked over at the curly haired girl, who looked bored and indifferent to the world as usual. MJ gave him a side glance, the barest hint of a smile on her face as she caught Peter’s eye. The spider vigilante gave the girl a tentative smile, quickly looking forward again with a stupid grin on his face.

There was just something about the way MJ was so interesting to the boy. Like the way her eyes glazed over with boredom whenever they listened to a lecture in class, but brightened when she heard about topics she loved (feminism, abolishing homelessness, different movements for charities, empowering young girls, etc). How everyone in Peter’s life was excited and amicable, but she was just so calm and the same everyday. Nothing to scare him, nothing to jump out at him at one hundred miles an hour.

Not that anything ever did. Regularly. Absolutely not. It’s not like Clint and Steve threw their weapons at him on the daily in order to test his Spidey senses.

That would be ridiculous.

It just was a miracle they hadn’t hit Tony with their weapons yet.

Hopefully that wasn’t a jinx.

~

As the final bell of the day rang, Peter let out a sigh of relief along with the rest of his class. It had definitely been a long day; Flash had cornered him on his way to lunch, managing to get a few jabs and hits on him in the boys’ bathroom before making his way to lunch with his crew. Peter knew some harassment was coming of course, but he didn’t expect Flash to physically do some damage this time. But Flash didn’t take kindly to being one upped in class again (not that Peter was particularly paying attention, but Cobbwell had called on Flash for the answer in physics, who had gotten it wrong).

Thankfully, his enhanced healing factor had blurred over the blue and purple bruises enough for him to move and carry his backpack till the end of the day. But Peter was still exhausted and sore as he traipsed into the gym, where the decathlon meeting was beginning.

Healing at rapid speed was great.

The exhaustion it took on his body in order to process it?

Not so great.

“Thought you had to be at your internship with Iron Man, Penis.” Flash smirked from his spot on a chair, dangerously leaning back on it.

“Flash.” Mr. Harrington’s voice clipped, giving the boy a warning look.

The presumptuous boy simply shrugged, not caring much if he got in trouble. It was only an extracurricular after all, and his parents funded half of it already.

“It’s fine, sir.” Peter mumbled, dropping his bag as he sat down next to Ned on the stairs leading up to the stage. They didn’t have a real practice today, considering they had won the national competition for the year in Pennsylvania the previous week. Today was about finally relaxing and getting to know what the school was rewarding them with.

Ned gave his friend a sympathetic smile, holding out a juice box that Mr. Harrington had provided as a snack for the teens. Chuckling softly, Peter took the box, stabbing the straw into the box before turning his attention onto their academic coach.

“Well, good, now that everyone’s here, we can get started. Now, I wanted to start off by saying how proud I am of all of you and how you performed at this year’s-” Flash cut off their teacher, a bit bored already by the monologue.

“Can you just skip to the part where you tell us this year’s prize?”

Mr. Harrington sighed irritably, giving the teen an exasperated look before continuing. “Very well, then, Flash. We have been granted permission to visit the biggest multinational company and largest tech conglomerate in the world, Stark Industries!”

An uproar of cheers flew out of the plethora of students, their excitement clear as day after hearing the name of the most popular company in the country, or really, the world. Flash sent Peter a wicked smile as the teen blanched white at the sudden news. The bully assumed Peter was scared about his ‘internship’ being called out to be fake, which he gladly brought up once more.

“What’s wrong, Parker? Scared that your big buddy Iron Man isn’t gonna know you after all? I mean, why would someone as big as him pick you for an intern?” he sneered, a malicious smirk on his face.

“I _wish_ he didn’t know me.” Peter muttered under his breath, unfortunately letting his friend overhear his thoughts.

“What’s wrong?” Ned whispered, looking around to make sure nobody was paying attention to their conversation. Per usual, the two wallflowers easily blended into the background, the rest of the team too busy chattering away their excitement over the big announcement.

“That’s what's wrong, Ned! I can’t go on a field trip to the tower! I basically live there,” Peter whispered frantically. “All of them are gonna be there, and God knows what they’re gonna do or say!”

“Well, what are you gonna do? You can’t really hide anything from spies, super soldiers, and geniuses in one room. Just toss it if you don’t wanna go.”

“Harrington will call May for permission anyways. And she’ll force me to go,” Peter groaned, leaning back against the wall. “I’m done for…”

“He will?” Ned asked, a bit surprised that their teacher cared that much for a student to go on a field trip.

He nodded numbly, sighing. “Did it last time. I forgot the slip, and he recorded May’s permission for me to go.” Peter grumbled softly, cursing the universe and his Parker Luck.

Out of all the places in the world, his teacher had to pick _Stark Industries_? Don’t get him wrong, if this would’ve happened a year ago, Peter would have been over the moon crying from happiness by now. But the teenager practically spent half his life there now, ignoring when he was called out on a mission. All the Avengers treated him as their nephew, doting on him as if he were their own, especially Tony (though he refused to admit it).

He made a special new family with them, one he never would trade for the world.

There had to be another way of this, Peter thought, as he took the piece of paper from Mr. Harrington, staring at it as if it were about to ruin his academic career.

~

Update: there was not.

He tried and begged Ned to inject him with potassium (“Peter, I’m not injecting you with  
anything. The Avengers would drain my blood.”), break his arm (“Peter, I’m not breaking your arm. Tony Stark would break my face.”), even to the point he hoped Flash would beat him up to the point he couldn’t go (“Peter, stop being dramatic. Maybe it won’t be so bad.”).

Except it was. And he found that out when Mr. Stark called him at the end of the meeting, asking if he was planning on heading over to the Tower.

Peter sighed softly as he grabbed his belongings, throwing away his trash and tucking another drawing from MJ into his bag as he accepted the call, making sure to keep his voice down. Ned was talking with MJ about the upcoming field trip, which was supposed to be at the end of the week, glancing over at Peter as the boy walked a bit away from them.

“Hey, Mr. Stark.” He answered, a smile etching its way onto his face as he imagined his mentor tinkering away on a new gadget.

“Hey, Underoos, you coming today?” The man called out, his phone easily picking up his voice as he worked on a new version of the Spider-Man suit, fit with a better and more protected Training Wheels Protocol.

After finding out the kid had hacked and unlocked the previous suit’s A.I. (and then named it Karen, which was an awful name in his opinion. There wasn’t even a smooth acronym that fit that), Tony was equally pissed and impressed with the boy’s skills, but he ultimately decided that enhanced combat mode and the five hundred and some web shooters would have to _wait_.  
  
Until perhaps when he actually passed through the training modules.

“Uh, no, actually, I was wondering if it’d be okay if I, uh, went over to Ned’s?” Peter stammered, catching his best friend’s eye.

Ned, hearing his name, looked over at the boy, his eyes widening in excitement when he realized who Peter was talking to. The Asian boy shook his head, automatically cancelling their previous plans to work on the LEGO set. Peter frowned, shaking his head in return at the silent argument, groaning softly when Ned mouthed “field trip” and pointed animatedly at the phone in his hand.

“Sure, kiddo, I don’t care.” Tony chuckled, pausing his work when he heard a small scuffle. “Everything all right?”

“Y-yeah, of course, sir!” the spider hero quickly said, turning away from Ned before he could grab at him again. “But, uh, actually, I think Ned’s parents are busy tonight so I’ll just head over?”

“Yeah, I’ll send Happy over to pick you up then.” he replied, waving a hand in the air to tell F.R.I.D.A.Y. to send the man to pick up his so- intern. Intern.

“Oh, no, no, it’s okay, sir, I can just walk there!” Peter quickly refuted, knowing that if he was still bruised by the time Happy picked him up, he (or Flash) would be toast from Tony’s wrath. “It’s no biggie.”

“Ask him about the field trip!” Ned hissed, tugging on the boy’s arm, making Peter flinch from pain. “Oh, sorry! Forgot!”

“Pete? Everything all right?” the billionaire genius asked again, concern furrowed in his brow. It wasn’t like Peter to be so jumpy, especially what had happened in the past year with them. He thought Peter trusted him. “What’s this about a field trip?”

“I’ll tell you about it later, Mr. Stark, gotta go!” Peter quickly rushed, hanging up before F.R.I.D.A.Y. could hack into his phone and find out the details, allowing Tony the perfect chance to embarrass or scold him for hiding information, or before his best friend could out him even more.

“Wai-”

“Ned!” Peter hissed, shooting a look at his best friend, who was way too giddy for his liking.

“You were on the phone with Tony Stark! You were on the phone with Iron Man!” Ned almost giggled, his face filled with glee. “You’re going to the Tower!”

Peter groaned, burying his face in his hands, knowing that he wasn’t getting out of this one. He walked outside of the school with his traitor of a best friend and MJ, who was following along.

“We’ll work on the Cantina some other time,” Ned promised. “I won’t open it without you.”

“Better not.” He glared at the boy, subconsciously rubbing his side, which was still a bit sore.

“Try some ice on it.” MJ piped up from her book, not bothering to glance up at the boys.

“Oh, uh, thanks.” Peter fumbled, a bit confused on why she seemed to care about his injuries. “I usually just let it heal on its own…”

The brunette looked up at him, shrugging before returning her attention back to her novel. Ned stole a glance at his two best friends, noticing Peter’s pink cheeks as he looked away from MJ, still tenderly holding his side as they walked towards their respective homes.

“So, Peter, you think you can get us inside Avengers Tower?” the boy piped up, smirking as he caught MJ’s attention.

“Ned!” the superhero whined, his cheeks burning from MJ’s glance.

“Can you actually?” she asked, an eyebrow raised.

She didn’t think Peter was lying about his internship (he was the only person who had a higher GPA than she did, for goodness’s sake, it was really no surprise he got the spot), but to casually be invited into a building with the world’s highest security was something else that didn’t happen everyday. No matter how much she despised it and everything it stood for.

“I’ll ask Mr. Stark about it…” Peter half promised, shooting Ned another glare, only getting a cheeky grin and a thumbs up in return.

Traitor.

He knew that Ned wanted to just peek inside of the Tower, and honestly, he would love to show his best friends around, and maybe even show them his lab. But he just didn’t feel right asking Mr. Stark to allow his friends into the Tower so casually. Not yet anyways. He didn’t want Tony to think he was just using him. He wouldn’t break the little trust they had so easily.

“Great. Let us know.” MJ gave the boys a half smile and turned onto her road, raising her middle finger as a goodbye as she kept on walking home.

Peter looked after her as the girl left, chuckling softly at the girl’s form of a goodbye. He turned to Ned, giving him a real smile as they did their handshake, ending it in a hug. Ned was careful not to squeeze him too hard, knowing he was still aching from earlier.

“Feel better okay?” Ned asked, pulling away from him. “Don’t worry too much about the field trip. Everything’ll be okay.”

“If only I could believe that…” Peter sighed softly, waving to the Filipino boy as he turned to walk towards his own house.

He was so screwed.


	2. Peter Parker Is Having A Sensory Overload

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was previous apart of chapter one, but I felt it would be better as its own chapter, so I just changed it. Sorry about the confusion everyone <3

Peter ducked into an empty alleyway, quickly tugging on his mask and suit to swing to the Tower, his aching body too tired to continue the twenty minutes left home.

“Good afternoon, Peter.” Karen greeted him politely, doing her usual biometric scan as he shoved his clothes into his backpack. “You appear to have some heavy bruising on your left side. Would you like me to inform Mr. Stark and F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”

“No!” The teen blurted, his cheeks reddening when some people looked over at him weirdly. He swung himself onto a rooftop, just a handful of buildings away from the tower. “No, Karen, I’m fine. Just fell off some stairs today.”

“All right. Is there anything you would like me to do?”

“Karen, can you play Mr. Stark’s lab playlist?”

“Playing: Tony Stark’s AC/DC playlist.”

Spider-Man chuckled softly as he swung himself towards the tower, eyeing the open window Tony had allowed to be open 24/7 for this exact reason. Though he claimed he could go through the entrance like everyone else, Tony had muttered something about wasting time and had told F.R.I.D.A.Y. to let it be open for Spider-Man only. He hummed softly along to his mentor’s music, swinging into the building with ease and landing on the plush carpet, scaring some of the workers there with his entrance.

“Oh, sorry!” he called to them, waving. “My bad!”

The workers’ eyes widened in surprise and astonishment; though the teen visited the tower quite often, it wasn’t everyday that they casually just slam into the city’s newest hero.

“Have a good evening!” Spider-Man called, jumping into the elevator as it opened.

“Welcome back, Peter. Mr. Stark has been notified of your arrival. He is waiting in the penthouse communal area with the others.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. greeted, closing the elevator doors for the boy.

Peter sighed softly, leaning against the wall of the elevator as he ripped off his mask for some fresh air. “Thanks, F.R.I. Tell him I’ll be up in a few minutes.”

He could hear Clint and Natasha bickering over dinner from twenty floors above him, the soft whirring of the elevator somewhat comforting to his ears as his nose inhaled some different scents, no doubt from all over the tower. It was calming, almost.

Well, it _was_ calming.

The peacefulness lasted about three minutes before the boy started to get attacked by different noises and smells from all over the building, the moving of the elevator not helping to ground him. The sounds kept amplifying as he neared the top of the tower, the different scents nauseating himself to the point Peter had to slide down the side of the elevator just to stabilize himself. His injury felt as though he was being burned, the slight throbbing pain from before turning into something unbearable.

The boy whimpered as he reached to cover his eyes, the bright lights blinding his doe eyes.

It was too much.

Way too much.

“Peter, I am detecting a sensory overload and an injury inflammation. Alerting Mr. Stark. New destination: Med Bay.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced as quietly as possible, enabling both Baby Monitor Protocol and Sensory Overload Protocol. She dimmed the elevator lights, slowing it down so that Peter would be stabilized.

“No, no, F.R.I.D.A.Y., I’m fine. Don’t tell Mr. Stark,” Peter whispered, knowing that he was the opposite of fine. He was too busy trying to figure out the trigger to this S.O. attack, but there was always the chance of it happening randomly. “Just take me to the penthouse please.”

“I am sorry, Peter, but I cannot do that, due to Baby Monitor Protocol.”

On any other day, Peter would’ve easily overridden the protocol using the codes he had Ned transcribe for him back at Homecoming, but his headache was pounding too much to recite the long string of numbers. Now, he just simply let out a soft whine and whimper.

“Sensory Overload Protocol activated. Boss, Peter is having a sensory overload in the west wing elevator, which is heading up to the penthouse. It appears he has an injury on his left side as well.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. declared to the room full of Avengers and Pepper Potts, who immediately froze in place.

“What?! Is he okay? How far is he away? Send him here, F.R.I.D.A.Y.,” Tony stood up from his spot on the couch, looking up at the ceiling.

“He is only about five floors down now, Boss. He will be arriving in one minute.”

The billionaire bit his lip, knowing that making his way to Peter would be useless, since the boy would probably be here by the time he suited up and got out of the penthouse. But it killed him to know that Peter was in pain, and he was unable to do anything.

The rest of the Avengers simply gave each other knowing looks, quieting down as F.R.I.D.A.Y. dimmed the lights to the penthouse, closing the curtains and turning off the TV, which was playing The Mandalorian.

Tony was pacing the area in front of the elevator, not even Pepper’s soothing voice could get him to calm down. Natasha was rummaging through some drawers, looking for Peter’s special glasses and headphones, quickly finding them in the teen’s nightstand. She handed them to the distraught man, giving him a comforting smile as the elevator finally made it to the penthouse, opening up to show the teen, crumpled into a little ball in the corner of the lift.

“Hey, Underoos…” Tony said gently, so softly that even the Avengers were a bit shocked. Granted they had seen this side of Tony before, but it was just so different from the egotistical asshole they dealt with on a daily basis. He ventured into the elevator, signaling F.R.I.D.A.Y. to halt any rides until further notice.

“H-hey, Mr. St-stark…” Peter whimpered, even his own voice hurting him.

It broke the man’s heart (along with Steve’s, Nat’s, Pepper’s, Bucky’s, Wanda’s, and Clint’s) to see the poor boy so pained, but Tony held out the two things Nat had handed him, giving Peter a gentle smile.

Peter took both items, though his skin flamed at the touch. After sliding on the glasses and headphones, his senses began to deplete in power after a few long minutes. He let out a soft sigh of relief, suddenly feeling more drained than before.

The boy opened his arms for a hug, which Tony gingerly accepted, wrapping his arms around the boy and pressing a kiss on his forehead.

“C’mon, Underoos, everyone’s worried about you,” Tony said, letting go of the boy.  
Peter shakily stood from his spot, nodding sleepily as he allowed his mentor and father figure to guide him into the penthouse, abandoning his bag for F.R.I.D.A.Y. to grab later.

Pepper greeted the shy boy with a kiss on top of the head and a hug, ushering him onto the couch. “Hey, sweetheart. Do you want some water?”

“Yes, please…” he mumbled, nodding his head as he laid down on the couch, snuggling closer to Pepper, laying his head on her lap.

Steve chuckled softly, pouring a cold glass of water and sticking a metal straw in it for the boy and handing it to Pepper.

“Thanks, Steve.” she smiled, giving it to the boy to carefully sip from.

“Just relax, buddy. Dinner’ll be done whenever you want to eat.” the patriotic hero reassured, patting the boy’s shoulder.

“Thanks, Mr. Steve…” Peter looked up from his spot next to Pepper, looking up at the man with an adorable toothy smile.

Steve felt his heart burst from the boy’s tired face, nodding as he went back to the kitchen to finish cooking dinner with Bucky.

As the boy nodded off to sleep, Tony and Pepper carefully switched places, the mentor disabling the boy’s suit so that he was able to sleep in loose clothes. After asking F.R.I.D.A.Y. where the injury was, Tony lifted delicately the boy’s shirt, his eyebrows deepening in a concerned V as he saw a blue bruise on the boy’s hip.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., has this been healing?” He asked quietly.

“Yes, Boss. It has been healing since 12:19 P.M.” the A.I. answered. “It appears to have come from another student named Eugene “Flash” Thompson in the school bathroom. Peter was forcibly pushed into the bathroom, and he exited with multiple bruises. Many of which have healed already, Boss. This is the remaining one.”

Upon hearing F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s explanation and video footage of Peter’s injury, half of the Avengers looked murderous.

Scratch that.

They looked downright homicidal.

Nat’s eyes had a vicious glare in them as she tightened her fist, hands urging to reach for her knife and dagger to pierce Flash's neck open. She looked over at her partner, who was clearly restraining himself from shooting a dozen arrows at the teenager, instead forcing his attention to anything else as he released a tight fist. Steve was visibly trying his hardest not to use the kitchen utensils on Flash, his grip clearly turning white from anger. Perhaps he’d use the boy as target practice for his shield. And Tony, well, let’s just say if Peter wasn’t cuddled into the man’s side, Flash would be blasted to Asgard by now, sending him into Thor's and Loki's hands to punish.

“I’ll kill him,” Nat and Tony growled in unison, their glares menacing. Peter stirred a little in his sleep from the noise, clutching a bit of Tony’s shirt as he slept, almost as if he were telling the man not to do anything.

Just the action alone allowed the billionaire to calm down a bit, letting out a worried and disappointed sigh as he gently combed his fingers through Peter’s hair.

Did Peter not trust him enough with this? How long had this been happening? How did he not see his favorite person in the world endure so much pain? Tony thought to himself, his anger replacing with hurt. Was he...turning into his father?

Pepper, noticing the man’s saddened eyes, smiled softly as she walked over to him, kissing his forehead. “Let’s wait to talk to Peter about this.”

Tony nodded, turning his attention back onto the sleeping boy after he gave Pepper a kiss. The rest of the Avengers, however, were huddled into the kitchen, plotting murder against the fifteen year old boy for messing with their nephew.

“I say we just shoot him and let him bleed to death.” Bucky suggested, his expression hard as he mixed some alfredo sauce together. “Sounds merciful.”

Clint scoffed, shredding a napkin from where he sat at the kitchen bar. “Oh please, he doesn’t deserve mercy. Just let me fire an arrow at his brain. I highly doubt he has one.”

“I’ll just rip out his tongue.” Natasha glowered from beside him, picturing the boy begging on the floor for his life once she was done with him. What would she use her Widow’s Bite? Her knife? Hell, she’d use her bare hands. More satisfying that way.

“Okay, as much as I would love to get justice for our little spider,” Wanda started, carefully  
levitating the knife from Steve’s hands. “I don’t think he’d be very happy with us murdering a teenager.”

“Well, we can’t do nothing!” Steve snapped, his anger finally releasing as he stirred the pasta. He nearly tipped the pot from his force, water splashing onto the counter.

“I’ll have Tony talk to his school,” Pepper sighed softly, joining Nat and Clint at the bar stools.

“But I think we all know Peter won’t let us intervene…he’s too sweet for that.”

“Unless we do it without him knowing.” The Black Widow smirked.

“What do you mean?”

“I found this in his backpack.” The woman reached into her pocket, where she pulled out Peter’s permission slip, still unsigned for his trip to Pepper’s company. “You’re letting these kids roam free in the tower?”

“I didn’t sign off on it. Tony did.” The CEO explained, pouring herself, Wanda, and Nat each a glass of wine. “I doubt he even looked at it.”

“Hey!” The billionaire’s indigent voice protested from his spot on the couch, but it was true; when he had any papers to sign, such as approving tours throughout the tower, he pretty much just signed them without another glance. “What did I do this time?”

“Apparently signed for Peter’s school to take a personal tour here,” Clint swiped Nat’s glass of wine, sipping at it as he peered over her shoulder, reading the paper.

“Oh, that. Yeah, I forgot about that.” Tony shrugged, looking down at the sleeping boy in his lap. “But honestly, who would be upset about that? They get to meet me.”

As much as Pepper was relieved that Tony was no longer sad and anxious, his egotism never stopped to irk her. “Probably Peter, considering he didn’t mention anything about a trip.”

“Oh, yeah, his friend mentioned something about a field trip. Think his name was Ted.”

“Ned.” Steve corrected, rolling his eyes at the super hero, his anger diminishing.

“Same thing. Anyways, what’s the plan to murder the Flash kid?”

“How about we pay him a little visit during the field trip?” Nat smirked, taking back her glass of wine and drinking it. “Teach him a memorable lesson.”

“I’m in. Mission is to protect Spider-Baby.” Bucky nodded in agreement.

“No one messes with my паук ребенок.” Natasha growled, raising her glass in a toast.

“Let’s teach him a lesson.” Wanda and Pepper smiled, clinking their glasses with Nat's, a dangerous smirk on all of their faces.

Steve smirked to himself as he nodded in agreement, all of the Avengers coming to a common consensus: destroy Flash Thompson on the field trip.

~

About an hour or so later, Steve and Bucky had finished the meal for everyone, which was one of Peter’s favorites: fettuccine alfredo with some grilled shrimp and asparagus on the side.The boy stirred awake from the delicious smells and soft clinking of the silverware, where Clint and Wanda were setting the table. The boy rubbed his eyes with closed fists, blinking the sleep away as he sat up, making his mentor chuckle. He is so childlike, so precious to the world, Tony thought to himself.

“Hey kid,” Tony greeted, ruffling his hair. “You slept for about an hour, but dinner’s ready whenever you are.”

“Okay...thanks, Mr. Stark.” Peter smiled softly, stretching as he felt the most rested in days, which was surprising since he had only slept for an additional hour.

“Huh? For what, Underoos?” the man blinked, confused. He didn’t do anything.

“Just being there,” the mentee replied, blushing a little bit as he shyly looked down at his hands. Peter had no idea how Mr. Stark would even react to this. Sure, they were close enough that the man kissed him on the forehead and finally returned his hugs, but verbal affection? That was rare for both of them.

Well, besides the constant reassurances, nicknames, teasing, affection after nightmares, and-

“I’ll always be here for you,” he replied honestly, his eyes hiding back something Peter couldn’t quite place his finger on.

Okay, maybe verbal affection wasn't _rare_ for both of them, but they were definitely tipping the waters towards something more than just a mentor-intern relationship. 

Or so Peter so desperately hoped. 

(Another example of Peter Parker overthinking again, everyone.)

“Thanks, Mr. Stark.” the spider hero repeated, a grin spreading on his face as he quickly dove into the man’s arms, giving him a light squeeze.

“Go and shower, everyone’s starving.” Tony laughed, swatting him away. “And I know you are too, so hurry up.”

The kid laughed, letting go of Tony. “Got it!” he headed off towards the bathroom to grab a quick shower, the sweat from his nap and S.O. attack from before still on his body. Peter passed Steve on the way, giving him a quick grin and wave before going into the room Tony had made for him.

“Hey, squirt. Dinner’s in ten!” the captain called after him.

“Okay!”

Steve chuckled to himself, heading back out to the common room, where everyone was settled on the couch, opening The Mandalorian again to wait for the teen. The adults watched a few minutes of the show, cooing at Baby Yoda before the soldier spoke up. “Are we telling Pete we know about his trip?”

“Why not? Might as well, since he mentioned it to Tony.” Wanda shrugged, not seeing any flaw to it.

“As long as you idiots keep your mouths shut about Operation Protect паук ребенок.”

“Nat, for the last time! The only people who understand Russian are you, Bucky, and Peter!” Clint whined.

“Well, if you were really my best friend, you would’ve learned it like he did,” she smirked.

“Burnnn!” Bucky and Tony oohed in unison, snickering.

“Weren’t you assigned to Russia at one point?” Bucky asked.

“Not my point!” Clint protested.

“She’s got a point though. Peter’s known her less than a year and he manages to have a conversation in Russian with her.” Wanda pointed out.

The man grumbled at his fellow teammates, muttering some obscenities and something about Nat picking a fifteen year old child over someone she’s been best friends with for fifteen years.

“Language!”

“Shut up, Rogers.” the archer grumbled, pouting in his spot. Nat rolled her eyes, reaching over to pinch the man’s cheek.

“Don’t worry, Barton. You’re in the top ten.”

Tony blinked, looking around at the group, doing a headcount and adding Peter, Bruce, and Thor. “Aren’t there only te-”

“Top ten in my heart.”

“мама паук, am I first in your heart?” the teenager’s voice broke the argument, the Avengers smiling as Peter emerged from the bathroom, now freshly showered. His curls were slightly damp as he finished pulling on an oversized MIT hoodie, which Tony noticed, was his own.

Thief.

“Of course you are, паук ребенок,” the woman smiled, standing up to greet the boy.

“Ha! I win!” Peter cheered, making the rest of the Avengers chuckle or glare at him (which was Clint). “Can we eat now? I’m starving.”

The group of heroes gathered around the long table, settling in their respective places. Steve and Bucky went over to the stove, grabbing the warming pots of sauce and pasta along with the side dishes, ladling them out to each teammate.

Peter eagerly bounced in his seat as Steve and Bucky handed him his heaping portion of pasta, immediately digging in and nearly burning his tongue on the food.

“Hot, hot, hot!” he whined, making the others snicker. “Iths not funnth!”

“That’s what you get for being impatient.” Tony remarked, blowing on his own pasta.

“I’m hungry!” he protested, fanning his tongue.

“You’re always hungry.” Clint remarked.

“So, Peter, how was school today?” Pepper changed the subject, biting back a smile at the boy’s antics.

The boy peered suspiciously at his fork before looking over at his mother figure, smiling.

“Pretty good. I got an A on my chem test. And Mr. Harrington told us the prize we got for winning Nationals last week. We get to go tour a rich company on Friday. But it’s going to be so boring.”

The Avengers snickered at the boy’s complaints, unknowing that they all knew about his field trip already. Tony’s face changed to mild offense, a hand going to his chest mockingly.

“Stark Industries is too boring to you?” He smirked, a mock look of hurt and woundedness on his face. “You should’ve told me, Pete, I would’ve added a swirly slide.”

Peter froze mid bite, a mixed look of surprise and horror crossing his face. “H-how did you know it was at-”

“I’m Tony Stark. I know everything.” He waved him off, an egotistical smirk on his face.  
Which only lasted about thirty seconds before Natasha slapped him on the head.

“Ow! You bitch!”

“Language!”

“You narcissistic piece of sh-!”

“Language!”

“Oh my God, Steve, let it go. She doesn’t get the dramatic effect without it,” Clint groaned.

“Can we get back to how you know it’s at the tower?” Peter repeated, swallowing his food as he bounced his leg up and down from the sudden news, his heart beating faster in his chest.

“Should’ve hid this better, паук ребенок.” Natasha grinned, a slice of evil pleasure in her lips as she pulled out his permission slip, the words STARK INDUSTRIES written in bold letters at the top.

“You went through my bag?!” Peter demanded, swiping it from her with a glare before the rest of the heroes could look at it.

To her credit, Nat simply chuckled, shrugging nonchalantly. “What can I say? I like to know what’s going on in my nephew’s life.”

“Please don’t do anything.” The boy almost pleaded, looking at everyone at the table. “Pleaseee.”

He's doomed if they knew about his trip already. He’s never living this down. Or whatever they would do. Or going to do. Did that even make sense? Oh, God, they’re going to reveal his identity, aren’t they? Or even worse, Mr. Stark is putting the footage of him goofing off in his suit online, or-

“Now, what would we ever do to you, kiddo?” Tony flashed his intern his famous paparazzi smile, letting the boy know that he was, in fact, planning something.

“Please don’t do anything to ruin my reputation. Or academic career.” He amended.

“Us? Embarrassing? Peter, who do you think you are to call us embarrassing?” Clint scoffed.

“Mr. Clint, you dropped out of the vents and landed in the middle of Auntie Wanda’s birthday cake in front of everyone.” The boy deadpanned.

“Psh, Tony bought like three cakes, it was fine.”

“Doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you for that, Barton.”

“Anyways, squirt, you’ll be fine. Nothing to worry about.” Steve reassured.

“Just don’t reveal anything? Or embarrass me please?” Peter repeated, wanting confirmation from his mentor that he wouldn’t do anything.

“Embarrass you? Moi? Peter, I enrich you with my presence.”

The boy groaned, burying his face into his hands.

How high was Stark Tower?

Would someone make it if they jumped without any web shooters?

Probably not.

Peter was extremely close to testing that theory.

“When’s the form due, spider-baby?” Wanda asked, taking a bite of some shrimp.

“Well, Mr. Harrington said turn it in as soon as possible but I was going to ask May tomorrow-“

“May smay. Give me that.” Tony reached over for the paper, snatching it before the boy could protest and quickly signing it with a pen in his pocket.

“Mr. Stark!” Peter protested, his cheeks turning pink at all the attention. “I can’t hand that in!”

The man scoffed, handing the signed slip back to the boy. “Why not?”

“Because...well, because…” how does one exactly say “no one believes I actually intern for you because well, you’re Tony Stark who’s literally Iron Man and I’m literally a fifteen year old genius with no social skills” without using those exact words? He didn’t want to be responsible for the school getting shut down. Or getting burned to ashes.

“Well, the teachers don’t really...believe me whenever you call me out of class...or sign stuff for me…” Peter mumbled, looking down at his food as he twirled his fork. “So I just got May to sign them…”

The adult heroes all shared a look over his head, their anger before with Flash resurfacing as they looked at the crestfallen boy. Did this school really treat their precious child like this?

“Sweetheart, if they won’t believe you, just have Tony come in.” Pepper comforted, pinching the man’s hand. “He’s your emergency contact for a reason.”

“Ow! Yeah, of course, Underoos. Just call me and I’ll be there,” the man promised, reaching over to ruffle the boy’s hair, which always made him melt.

Peter giggled softly at Tony’s touch, making the other Avengers relax. “I know...I just don’t wanna bother you…”

“Oh please. The last time Tony said he was busy, he was arguing with Rhodey on whether biting your ice cream to eat it faster was considered ethical.” Steve scoffed.

“Why would you bite into ice cream!?” Clint, Tony, and Peter exclaimed, all of them horrified by the mere thought of it, making the patriotic hero groan.

“But seriously, Underoos.” Tony looked straight into the boy’s Eyes, making sure he knew the man meant every word. “You’re never a bother to me.”

“Th-thanks, Mr. Stark...”

“Point across.” Nat rolled her eyes. “But don’t worry about the field trip, паук ребенок. Pepper, Wanda, and I’ll make sure nothing goes wrong. Can’t say much for those idiots.”

“Thanks, guys…” Peter mumbled, not liking how she promised that. There was always a catch with Auntie Nat. But it was better than nothing, right?

Right?

Guess he’ll find out on Friday.


	3. Peter Parker Is Too Good For the World

After being banned on patrol for the night and having his suit taken away _temporarily_ (“Peter, for God’s sake, go to bed, _please_. New York can handle one night of crime. That’s what the police are literally paid to _do_. They can stop crime for one night by themselves. And if there’s an actual threat to humanity I’ll give it back. Just go to sleep, _please_.” Tony then had to initiate Sleepy Spider Protocol, tucking the teenage boy in with his Iron Man blanket and TsumTsum plush, which Tony had narcissistically gotten him, and a shit story about one of their past missions, along with some cuddles in order for Peter to finally drift off to sleep. Sure, Peter had accidentally mumbled a “Goodnight, Dad” but Tony was just gonna assume he was too asleep to think straight.), Peter woke up the next morning the most rested he had been in a few weeks or even a month’s time.

Probably because he didn’t have a panic attack from being crushed to death again, but no one needed to know that.

“Good morning, Peter. Boss wanted me to inform you that he and Mrs. Stark have a conference to attend this morning. Captain Rogers and Ms. Romanoff are in the kitchen preparing breakfast for you. The others have begun their training in the gym on Floor 108. Mr. Hogan will drive you to the Midtown School of Science and Technology at precisely 7:30.”

“Thanks, F.R.I.” Peter chuckled, throwing off the blanket as he stretched his arms, staring out of his penthouse window.

He truly couldn’t believe Mr. Stark’s generosity and kindness. He was granted this “job” and internship, and he even had a room all to himself for when he stayed over. And just the fact that he was allowed to call this a second home was a miracle in itself.

The boy had been feeling overwhelmed so much gratitude last night that while in his half drowsy state, he managed to call the man dad.

 _His_ _dad_.

Peter groaned softly, rubbing his eyes.

Hopefully Mr. Stark didn’t catch it, he thought to himself. The man wasn’t much for that kind of stuff was what he assumed.

Unfortunately.

Glancing over at his clock, he noticed it was only a few minutes before seven, ensuring that he would have plenty of time to get to school. Peter dug out a new T-shirt from his closet, pairing it with some jeans and Mr. Stark’s MIT hoodie once again before venturing out to the communal area where Nat and Steve were making some omelets.

“Good morning!” he smiled at the two adults, who greeted him cheerfully (well, as cheerful as Natasha could get), secretly glad to see him so much better than last night.

“Morning, паук ребенок. Sleep well?” Nat smiled, flipping two omelets onto a plate before handing it to Peter. Steve buttered two pieces of toast before plopping them onto a plate, adding it to the boy’s stash of food along with some fresh strawberries and a banana.

“Mhm…” Peter hummed as a reply, his mouth full of omelet. “Danfs, guys.”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, squirt.” Steve reminded, his inner dad coming out as Nat rolled her eyes, taking a piece of toast for herself.

The boy pouted, swallowing his food. “Sorry, Mr. Steve…”

“Peter, you know you can call me just Uncle Steve.” The hero reminded him. “Or just Steve is fine.”

“Okay, Mr. Uncle Steve…”

The American themed hero groaned, running a hand down over his face as Natasha coughed over a laugh, shaking her head at the boy’s politeness. It wasn’t easy for her and Wanda to convince the sweet child to call them his Aunties; they had to practically bribe him with cuddles and hair pets, having designated an Auntie and Petey day each month just to have time with each other, away from the meddling nuisances she called her friends.

She really needed new friends.

“Ms. Romanoff, Mr. Barton is requesting your presence in the gym.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced, adding, “Mr. Rogers, it seems that Mr. Buchanan is in a predicament and needing your assistance.”

“...what kind of predicament?”

“Mr. Odinson has arrived, and Mr. Buchanan has challenged him, claiming he is able to lift Mjolnir. He is currently stuck underneath the weapon and needs your help being freed.”

Peter almost choked on his food, the idea of Bucky being helplessly trapped under Thor’s hammer hilarious to him.

“Can I go see Mr. Thor?! Please?!” He pleaded, his eyes widening with excitement.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., is Mr. Loki here?!”

“It appears that Mr. Laufeyson is here as well, Peter.”

The boy cheered, turning to his two adults with puppy eyes. “Please, please, please, can I visit them before school? I haven’t seen Mr. Loki in months!”

“I grace you all with my being.” The god exclaimed as he invaded into the compound, the elevator dinging as it let off its subject. “You are all welcome.”

Natasha and Steve both groaned, looking at each other with mild annoyance.

Scratch that.

They needed to find normal, non superhuman friends.

 _Away_ from the tower.

“I don’t want to hear a single thing about you being late to school, got it?” Steve warned, pointing a finger at the boy. “Oh, and before I forget…”

The man looked around for a moment before snatching up a brown paper bag, handing it to the boy. “Here’s your lunch. Tony made it before he left. Said if it’s inedible there’s a hundred bill in there for you to buy something with.”

“O-oh! Thanks!” Peter blushed softly, taking the bag lunch. Mr. Stark cared enough about him to make him lunch? He didn’t really know what to make of that.

(Spoiler: it was as simple as you could get with a PBJ, but it was just the way he liked it. It’s the thought that counts.)

Steve and Natasha hugged the boy goodbye, wishing him a good day at school before begrudgingly going down to deal with the three numbskulls.

“Hello, little spider.” Loki greeted, plopping down right on the counter in front of Peter. “Are you ready for a day of magic and pranks?”

“Can’t. Gotta go to school today.” The boy sighed dramatically.

“As if school will ever teach you anything useful. Just take over a planet. Or a country.”

“Mr. Loki!”

The raven haired god smiled innocently at the boy. “What is it, Son of Stark?” he asked, mocking his brother.

“I’m not his son..!” Peter weakly protested. “And I can’t miss school today. I have to turn in my permission slip.”

“Permission? Why ever would you need that for? You can do whatever you want. Who’s stopping you?”

“The principal..?”

“The principal is a weak human who has probably never seen a god. Maybe I shall make her day and come with you then!”

“No!” Peter rebutted, shaking his head. “Absolutely not.”

“And why not?”

“Because people would freak out.”

“What if I came as…” the god closed his eyes for a moment, a green flash turning him into a small grasshopper. “This?”

Still not convinced, the boy firmly shook his head at the insect. “What if someone steps on you? And besides, it’s pretty boring anyways. It’ll only be slightly exciting on Friday, when-”

The shapeshifter turned back into his normal, godly form, dramatically posing on the counter.

“Friday? What’s happening on Friday?”

“I have a field trip at the tower...” the boy mumbled, quickly scarfing down his toast.

The god grinned devilishly, a wicked look in his eye as he heard about the boy’s day, a plan beginning to form in his head. “I shall be here then!”

“Wait, no-!”

“I am off now, Petey! Go prepare for school!” Loki declared, jumping off of the counter, throwing open the fridge to grab some of Tony’s RedBull and food (which he had clearly marked as his), before escaping Peter’s protests.

“No, wait don’t-!” A slam. “Take those.” The boy groaned, finishing up his breakfast and sliding them into the sink before grabbing his still ever heavy backpack, dropping his lunch and  
permission form in it before swinging it onto his shoulder.

It was already 7:27, so there was no way he’d be able to say hi to Thor before school, unless he wanted to make Happy unhappy.

Ha.

Peter subconsciously pulled the sleeves to Mr. Stark’s hoodie over his hands, funding a great deal of comfort in the hoodie.

It was so warm and soft, not to mention like it smelled like the man: fresh cologne mixed with some chemicals and grease and something metallic. Peter always snagged the hoodie whenever he was feeling anxious or nervous, something about the size or that it was his mentor’s calming him down, as if it were Mr. Stark himself.

Sighing softly, the boy made his way all the way down to the lobby, greeting the head of security cheerfully, along with all the receptionists he saw along the way.

“C’mon, Boy Wonder, we don’t have time for you to say hi to everyone working here.” Happy sighed, looking at his watch impatiently.

“Morning, Happy,” Peter chirped, giggling at the man’s exasperated face.

This would certainly be an interesting day.

~

“But Mr. Harrington…” Peter protested, feeling very helpless and defeated at the current moment. “Mr. Stark is my emergency contact…”

“I’m sorry, Peter,” the man sighed, setting down the permission slip on his desk. “Mrs. Morticia has told me not to accept any signatures other than guardians for this field trip. There are just too many NDA policies and guidelines we have to follow from Stark Industries to even ensure that we are able to go on the trip.”

“What if I call him?” Peter bit his lip, immediately regretting his words as the teacher’s eyes widened in surprise. “You can ask him yourself...since it’s to Stark Towers and all…”

“Well, if you’re able to do that, then I don’t see why not,” Mr. Harrington nodded dubiously, a bit of doubt settled on the tip of his tongue.

He liked the kid, he really did. But the idea of a fifteen year old boy, no matter how brilliant, working for the world’s richest and smartest man was just too much to swallow sometimes. I mean, we’re talking about the man who invented a new element and created superpowers and weapons with his technology, revolutionizing a plethora of worlds. Not to mention the leader of the Avengers.

Anyone would doubt Peter.

“Great…” Peter muttered, pulling out his StarkPhone and swiping through until he stopped at the contact name ‘IronDad.’ His finger hovered over the button, a bit hesitant to reveal so much to his teacher, just for the sake of going on a trip to his own house.

Maybe he should just wait for May to get home and sign it. Unless she went on a business trip again.

Maybe Natasha could just forge it.

Or by a miracle, he could just skip the field trip altogether and just hide out in Germany for a weekend.

“Um, you know what, Mr. Harrington, I think I’ll just wait for my aunt to sign it, it’s no prob-”

The boy’s phone decided to painfully blare at the moment, the one and only Tony Stark’s face lighting up as a hologram above the phone. Peter swore under his breath as the phone’s A.I. announced “Incoming call from: Tony Stark, also known as ‘IronDad.’”

“No, no, no, no, no don’t ans-” the phone connected through, showing the man shining a paparazzi smirk through the hologram.

“Pete! Happy’s complaining about you being late again, bud. What’s keeping you?”

“Oh, uh, I’m just turning in my permission slip, Mr. Stark.” Peter stammered, glancing over at his teacher, who was astonished by the billionaire’s causal attitude.

“Oh, do I need to come in for that? Bit pointless, don’t you think, teach? You know who I am. It’s at my home anyways. I control if you can even come in through the doors.” Tony eyed the man through the screen, something hidden in his words that made the teacher shrink back in his seat for even doubting the boy.

“R-right...of course, Mr. Stark, it’s no problem at all, I will talk to Mrs. Morticia about this.” He fumbled, nodding furiously.

“Excellent. Pete, Nat's expecting her Widow’s Bite soon, so better get back here, double time.” The man said, giving the boy a sly look.

“Right, of course. On my way, Mr. Stark,” Peter nodded, painfully trying to ignore his teacher’s not so internal freak out beside him. “See you soon, sir.”

The boy waved his hand through the hologram, ending the call. “Why does he always have to do that….” Peter grumbled under his breath, turning to his teacher.

“So...does that mean I can go, sir?” He mustered, fiddling with the ends of Tony’s hoodie, wanting nothing more than to pull the hood up and shut it, curling inside it.

“Yes, of course, Peter. Go ahead, I won’t keep you. It seems like Mr. Stark needs you.” The man waved the teenager off, his breath still caught from speaking to literal Iron Man. “I’ll, uh, I’ll talk to Ms. Morticia about this, erm, exception.”

Peter nodded, gripping his backpack tightly as he left the classroom, only praying that his heightened senses were just a result of his anxiety spike of the current moment. Having supercharged senses were a plus most of the time, but when it mixed with his anxiety, it usually either ended in a sensory overload, anxiety attack, or just Peter having a rough time for the next hour with both.

“So, who’d you pay for that recording, huh, Penis? Or was it that fatass buddy of yours, using cheap software?” Flash remarked, leaning on a locker as Peter walked towards the exit.

“Fuck off, Flash,” Peter muttered, trying to calm down his heavy breathing before Tony got an alert of his vitals. Flash stiffened, making Peter walk faster.

Why him why him _why him_.

Why does this happen for no reason this has to be a new rec-

“What did you just say to me?” The bully demanded, immediately making his way over to the boy. “What was that, you little bitch?”

“I said fuck off,” the boy snapped, his irritation clear as day as he kept his head down, trying everything to reign in control of his anxiety.

Probably the wrong thing to say to someone who already hates him.

Peter felt Flash’s hand one second too late, the boy’s fist already pummeling into his cheek, slamming him into the lockers.

Groaning in pain, Peter forced himself to stagger up, hand flying to his forehead, which had been full force pummeled into the metal lockers.

He almost recoiled from his own hand as he saw blood. A lot of blood. Not to mention his cheek felt as if it were on fire. _Fuck_.

But Flash’s anger wasn’t done. He took Peter by the shoulders, slamming him into the lockers.

The boy felt a wave of deja vu pass over him from fighting criminals; the only difference was, this was a fifteen year old bully who wasn't a criminal, and he couldn’t fight back.

Peter felt the metal hit every bone in his back, his head forcefully snapping against the locker door. Black dots began to spot his vision, a familiar pounding resonating in his head. He tried to push Flash off, which only made him angrier, instead resorting to push him into the ground, making his forehead wound even worse.

Mr. Stark was going to kill him for dirtying his hoodie.

Hearing Mr. Harrington, one of the few teachers still here after school, start to open his door, Flash took off for the exit, shooting Peter a menacing glare before slamming the door shut behind him.

Groaning in pain, the boy managed to crawl into an empty corridor to hide from the teacher, leaning against the corner as he tried to wait for his healing factor to kick in.

He was so dead.

His entire body was aching, and he wasn’t even sure he had the strength to stand up to clean away the blood that was dripping down his face. So really, he had two options. Let Happy be pissed and wait while Peter’s healing factor kicked in enough for him to clean up and figure out an excuse, or call Mr. Stark, who probably had a scan of his vitals from God knows where already.

The first one seemed inviting enough.

Underoos: going to neds sorry forgot to tell you

IronDad: So what are you two doing that your heart rate skyrocketed and you’re bleeding?

Underoos: ...football

IronDad: Funny. Happy's coming in and I swear if you run you’re grounded till you’re 30

Underoos: mr. stark im fine really dw dw just tell happy he can go pls

IronDad: Fine I’ll come get you myself

Underoos: NO WAIT NO

Underoos: MR. STARK

Underoos: IM FINE I SWEAR

Underoos: M R S T A R K

Little clouds of black started dancing in front of his eyes again, his vision going a bit blurry from his headache.

God, he was so tired. It felt familiar too, like whenever a villain managed to get the upper hand over him for a moment.

Maybe he shouldn’t mention how many times that's happened.

“Peter? Peter, where are you?” The head of security started calling out in the vastly empty hallways, making the boy’s ears ring.

“Happy…?” Peter mustered, mumbling something about him not having to be there, even though Happy couldn’t hear anything he said. “Sorry for making you wait…”

The man rounded a corner, stopping in his tracks and hissing when he caught sight of the boy.

Happy stood in shock for a moment, thinking how on earth could someone do this to the boy. He had a definite black eye, swollen cheek, huge gash on his forehead, and just by the way he was leaning on the wall, had definite fractures.

But he was concerned about making the man wait?

The world doesn’t deserve Peter Parker.

“Peter, what happened?” Happy immediately rushed towards the teen, using a tissue from his suit pocket to wipe away some of the blood on his face.

“Nothing.” He replied lamely, not able to come up with a decent excuse for his current state.

“This isn’t nothing kid. God, does this happen often? Tony is going to shut down this school.” Happy was quietly seething in anger but also fear and worry.

Who knows what wrath Tony would set off on this school? No one messed with one of their kids. No one. Especially Tony Stark’s kid.

“No...jus’...fell…” the boy mumbled, his headache becoming slightly overbearing. His eyelids were beginning to drop, his body succumbing to the pain.

Suddenly, Peter quickly heard the sound of repulses overhead the roof, quickly nearing the closest exit to him, making the boy flinch.

“Just fell, my ass.” The security guard snapped. “Fine, if you won’t tell me what happened, then Tony’ll get out of you.”

“Thanks, Happy…”

The door slammed open, the ironclad hero following F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s visual scan and directions until he got to the boy, nearly making the heart in his chest crumble to pieces when he caught sight of him.

Who the hell did this to his son?

There, he said it.

Peter Parker was like his son.

And he was going to make them pay damnit.

No one hurts his son and gets away with it.

_No one._

“Underoos! Are you okay? God, of course you're not okay. What the fuck happened? This is _not_ fucking _fine_ , kid. We need to teach you what that definition is again.” He started rambling, making a beeline towards Peter, who only flinched in surprise at the loudness.

Tony softened, pressing a button on his chest to wrench himself out of the suit.

“I’m sorry, kiddo…” he said gently, kneeling down towards the boy, opening his arms. Peter quickly crawled into the man’s arms, ignoring the immense throbbing in his back.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., do a scan.”

“Seeing: a black eye, swollen check, cut on forehead, scrapes and bruising on back, one possible shoulder fracture, a mild concussion, and inflammation of the bruise from the other day, Boss.”

“ _Jesus Christ,_ Peter.” The man breathed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Didn’t wanna worry you.” The kid mumbled sleepily.

“And you were just going to let that Flash kid beat you until you die?” Tony snapped, his voice rising against his will again.

Peter automatically froze against the man’s arms, quickly trying to scramble away but failing when Tony’s arms tightened around the boy.

“Ho-how did you know?”

“F.R.I.D.A.Y. did a scan of you the other day.” He explained, his voice much gentler this time, releasing his death grip on Peter. “I pulled footage from the school.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, _oh_.”

The superhero sighed, in both worry and annoyance at the boy’s selflessness, knowing he had a somewhat good reason for all of this. But that could be resolved later.

“Happy, take his other arm for me? C’mon, kiddo, we’re going home.” Tony shifted Peter so each of his arms was draped over Tony’s and Happy’s shoulders.

The boy let out a whine of pain as the men walked towards the door, Tony quickly letting out a command for his suit to cut the footage of the past ten minutes on the school cameras.

“You’re so grounded after this,” the man muttered as they piled into the car, delicately placing Peter inside first, his heart breaking at seeing the boy look so broken.

“S-sorry, Mr. Stark…” the boy whimpered, sitting down in the backseat, a grimace on his face from the pain.

Peter slid into the plush seats, letting out a soft sigh of relief and pain as Tony buckled him in. He got in after him, sitting next to the boy as Happy started the car, directing the route to the Tower. The man sighed softly, pressing a button to pull up the screen divider from Happy so the two could have a private talk. Tony turned to the boy, who was dreadfully quiet as he sat and fiddled with his hoodie sleeves.

“Underoos…”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Stark…” Peter whispered, tears quickly forming in his sad, painstakingly innocent eyes.

“No, no, Peter, I’m sorry. I should’ve let you explain.” Tomy reached out for the boy, careful not to make the boy strain from his seatbelt too much. Peter dove into his arms, snuggling into the man’s chest as he quietly cried, tears spilling down onto the warm hoodie. Tony gently wrapped his arms around Peter, careful not to apply any pressure on his wounds.

“How long has this been happening?” The man breathed, not sure if he wanted to know this answer or was even prepared to find out.

“Since freshman year…” Peter revealed hesitantly, freezing at the man’s sudden death grip on him.

“But he never got physical!” He quickly added, trying to give Flash as much mercy as possible. He knew what Mr. Stark did to the villains who hurt him. He didn’t want to be standing at the ashes of Flash Thompson. “Well...not until now…”

Peter felt a calassed hand gently touch his forehead, raising his head away from Tony’s chest to look at the man in the eyes, which was his first mistake.

The only time Peter had ever seen Tony this angry was after the ferry incident, where he had essentially put hundreds of people in danger, slicing a boat in half. It was the only time he had Tony truly angry, but not even when Captain America had dismantled the entire Avengers team was he this upset.

No, that anger was truly only cold anger.

In the moment.

Disappointment in the mask of anger.

Not this.

This was flaming hot, rich anger, one where he only reserved for truly monstrous villains who hurt his family.

That was when Tony truly spiked.

There was absolutely no good ending for anyone who dared touch a hair on anyone he loved.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” In contrast to the rage on his face, Tony’s voice was seemingly calm and level, as if simply making conversation with the boy. Inside, he knew that if his voice gave out to what he was truly feeling inside, the boy would be scared senseless of him again.

And, God, he _hated_ when he made Peter flinch.

“I could deal with it…” Peter answered, burrowing his face into the man’s side again, his voice thick and muffled. “If it’s not me, he’ll do it to Ned. And he can’t take it. It’s better me than him.”

How on earth did he, Tony Stark, world famous playboy and fuckup, get this boy in his life?

And how the fuck did he manage to win this boy over to stay in his life, even with all the fuck ups he’s done?

 _How_?

“And besides,” the boy continued, gripping Tony’s shirt as if it were a lifeline, having to be even closer to the man, if that was even possible. “He has family stuff at home. He probably just needs to release his anger somehow. So better me than someone else.”

It’s official.

No one deserves to be in Peter Parker’s life.

_Absolutely no one._

The universe owes him _everything_ it could fucking offer to this boy. Because even when faced with the cruelest truths of all, his parents dying when he was at a young age, his uncle literally dying in front of his eyes, and having to navigate gaining enhanced superpowers all alone for six months, he has to deal with this bullshit now. And yet he still looked for others’ needs before his own.

Peter looked at the world with such kindness that can’t ever be replicated; he was filled with pure and true love for everyone, even those who didn’t deserve it. Especially those who didn’t deserve it.

Peter was the fucking light of Tony’s life.

“Underoos,” Tony breathed, his voice thick as he ran a hand through the boy’s hair, pulling down the hood of the hoodie so he could look at his boy. “Please don’t ever think you need to put up with that.”

“But a hero protects others…” Peter whispered, looking down at his hands.

“Not at your own expense. Kiddie, you can’t be a hero if you’re saving everyone but yourself.” The man said softly, his arms wrapping around the boy, as if the slightest word would make him disappear. “If you’re gone, Pete, who's going to protect the little people? What will happen to the lady who bought you the churro?”

Peter stayed quiet, knowing his mentor was right.

“And you’re not alone, Underoos. We all have our struggles. Even us heroes. Especially us. Steve was bullied as a kid; that’s why he’s so against it. Everyone of us has been bullied in some way or another. There’s people who hate what we do. They think we do more harm than good. That’s why the accords are a thing. And there’s nothing we can do to change it. But letting yourself get hurt and beat up like this,” Tony paused, looking at him in the eyes. “This isn’t protecting others.”

“I know.” He whispered, hugging the man tighter.

Tony pressed a kiss on top of the boy’s curls, his arms locked around him just tightly enough so he wouldn’t be hurt from it.

He didn’t want to ever let his boy go.

 _Ever_.

Peter was just too good for this world.


	4. Peter Parker Is Having Second Doubts

Peter was beyond nervous.

Well, that part wasn’t much of a surprise, as he usually had anxiety most of the time. But today was the day of the field trip, or what he had started to call it: Death Day.

After getting back to the tower with high fractures and all of his injuries, Tony immediately marched Peter over to Med Bay, managing to get the attention of Bruce, and unfortunately, Nat and Clint, where were in there themselves after Nat “accidentally” missed her punch during training, managing to get a good hit on his nose instead of his jaw, nearly dislocating it.

To say the two spies were livid would be an understatement.

Natasha nearly blew up the tower in a fit of rage when she saw her spider baby’s condition, while Clint’s eye suddenly had a venomous glare, staying deathly silent while Nat sat in the infirmary, making sure Peter was okay.

Peter mumbled a weak protest of them not being able to actually, you know, kill Flash, since that was illegal, the tiredness coming back over his body as Bruce gave him a bit of super soldier medication. He whimpered a little bit as his aunt and uncle stormed out of the clinic, no doubt making their way up to the penthouse to tell the other Avengers about his latest injuries.

“Please don’t kill him…” he mumbled, tugging at Tony’s hand as Peter closed his eyes, sleep calling him back as hard as he tried to fight it. “Or hurt him…”

The billionaire sighed softly, sitting down on the boy’s hospital bed as Peter scooted over, making more room for him to sit comfortably. “I can’t make that promise for the others, Underoos. But I’ll try my best.”

“Please stay wi’h me...”

“What do you think I’m doing, kid?” he smiled, running his hand through the boy’s curls.

“Feels nice...no nightmares wi’h you…” the boy mumbled, falling asleep with a drowsy smile on his face, oblivious to Tony’s frozen expression.

Peter, you’ve got to stop doing this, the man thought, his heart slamming in his chest.

Nightmares?

Bullying?

Did he know anything in his so- intern’s life?

He knew his go-to shawarma order.

And his favorite Star Wars movie.

And that if you ran your hand through his hair he’d fall asleep instantly.

Okay, that’s three things.

That made Tony feel a _tiny_ bit better.

And that was why Tony was current having breakfast with the boy at seven a.m. (which was way too goddamn early in the morning), who was clearly not excited about having to be driven to school, get on a bus back to the tower, go back to the school, and then finally go back to the tower (since May had called and told him she would be in Hong Kong for the next week or so).

“That’s the stupidest plan I think I’ve ever heard,” he retorted, stealing a pancake from the boy’s enormous pile. “And I’ve heard Roger’s plans before.”

“Yeah, well, that’s my life right now,” Peter sighed, glaring at the man. “Mr. Stark, that’s mine!”

Tony waved him off, already shoving the pancake into his mouth. “Oh please, Rogers made enough to feed everyone in the tower.”

“Do you know what they’re doing?” the boy asked him, eyes a bit worried.

He knew that the Avengers had found out what had happened, since Steve sat him down that night, constantly asking him questions about how he was and if he was truly doing all right. The others were more affectionate with him, and even though he didn’t mind the constant shower of hugs and rubs at all, it made Peter a bit wary of what the Avengers had planned for that day.

“Sorry, kid. My lips are sealed. Can tell you it’s all legal though. Mostly. Pep’s got lawyers in the building just in case though.”

Peter slumped in his seat at the response, not looking forward to the field trip at all.

“Cheer up, kid. I’ll see if I can just get you to stay at the tower after the final tour’s over. No use going back to school just to come back here. Bring your buddies. Ted? You never bring anyone over, are you that embarrassed of my interior design?” Tony attempted to cheer the boy up, hating it when he was sad.

Peter’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, the mere suggestion of bringing a friend over so foreign to him that he didn’t even believe what his mentor said for a second. Or that he had gotten Ned’s name wrong, but he highly doubted Ned would even care.

“W-wait, really?! You really mean it, Mr. Stark?” The boy asked, stunned at the timing of it. Did Mr. Stark read minds? He was starting to think Tony Stark had the ability to read minds. “They can just stay in the communal area, I promise! And they won’t touch anything I swear-“

The man chuckled, shaking his head at the boy’s sweet joy and excitement. “Only you. Of course I mean it, kid. Why not show them around your lab? If you trust them, then I do.”

“Thanks, Mr. Stark.” Peter thanked, his eyes filled with immense gratitude for the man.

“And you’ve gotta stop calling me that. Just Tony, Pete. Mr. Stark makes me feel old.”

“But you _are_ old.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re old,” Peter repeated, swiping the man’s coffee mug to steal a sip from the caffeinated drink.

“I am _not_ old. And you know you’re not allowed coffee, Underoos. Or any caffeine. Not after what happened last time.” Tony reminded him, taking back the mug before the boy could put his lips to Tony’s liquid gold.

“It was one time!”

“And it took an entire _day_ to track you down after you drank that one cup of whatever the hell Thor gave you.” The man berated, still remembering how Thor had innocently given the child a blended cup of RedBull, Five Hour Energy, Monster, and coffee, not knowing the rule about Peter’s enhanced metabolism and caffeine.

Thor had seen the young spiderling tired, and assumed that the more caffeine, the faster it would work. So the god had made him an energy smoothie for his finals.

Well, one cup of whatever the fuck that was down and Peter was already swinging across the city, nearly launching himself at the Statue of Liberty’s nose before he finally ran out of energy.

It took Tony, Steve, Thor, _and_ Bucky to pin him enough to get him back home, and even then he was continuously babbling on something about TikTok and Vine, which Tony quickly shoved a sock on it.

One could only withstand Vine references and a caffeine drunk idiot try to do the savage dance one so many times.

“Just proves I leveled up in my training.” Peter smirked.

Tony hummed, eyes squinting with amusement. “Oh really now? I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Well, I’ll see you later at the Q and A then?” The boy said quickly, grabbing his bag, which wasn’t filled with much stuff, considering they were going on a day trip. It just included his usual snacks, water bottle, and some miscellaneous essentials, like his watch, suit in a false bottom, other Stark tech, and most importantly, his rarely used intern badge.

“Probably before that. I’m sure you’ll see some familiar faces around the building.”

“Please don’t kill him.” Peter groaned, reminding his mentor for about the fifth time that morning. “I’m fine. I don’t need you guys hurting him. Or ripping off a limb.”

Tony put his hands up in mock surrender. “Never said I was doing anything. Except grounding you for trying to keep it a secret.”

“But I thought you said I could have friends over!” Peter protested, his hopes of not being grounded vanishing.

Tony clicked his tongue, sipping at his coffee. “That means no patrol, Spider-Man.”

“But, Mr. Stark-!”

“Nope. Should’ve thought about that before you tried hiding it from me.”

“But you already found out. And do I need to remind you that that’s called murder.”

“Only if he dies.”

“MR. STARK.”

“What? It’s true. You’re lucky he’s not blasted to some planet by now. Loki would’ve burned him on a stake.”

“ _Mr. Stark_.”

The man only laughed at the boy, simply waving him off. “Get to school, kiddie. Don’t wanna be late coming back here.”

“Promise me you won’t do anything.”

“I’ll promise that when you can stop hiding things from me.” Tony said pointedly.

Peter groaned in defeat, grumbling as he left the communal hall, his mentor’s laugh still audible as he went into the elevator to go to his doom.

It was going to be an interesting field trip to say the least.

~

Peter was definitely having second thoughts.

Maybe he should just jump out of the bus.

Or move to Canada.

Or run away and live in the mountains.

Or maybe go to Tennessee and go find his brother (honorary, but still a brother nonetheless), Harley. He’d let him hide out for a while.

Or maybe just yeet himself to Wakanda with Shuri.

Anything had to be better than this.

Literally _anything_.

Anything at all.

“Hey Penis! You ready for everyone to find out your half assed lie is fake?” Flash called from the back of the bus, making Peter roll his eyes.

Flash was the least of his worries at the moment. Well, partially least. He was mostly concerned about two things. Having the entire team of super powered humans come up to him during the trip, definitely embarrassing him, and having said team of superheroes use said super powers on Flash out of vengeance.

Neither of them could end in a good way.

Ned wasn’t exactly helping his worries, blabbing on and on about the possibilities of meeting the Avengers, which Peter didn’t even try to tell him that Mr. Stark had given him permission to invite his friends over.

He’d let Ned die of a heart attack for making him go on the field trip.

MJ was indifferent as usual, but she snapped back at Flash, telling him to watch his tongue before she kicked him off the team and the bus.

“Thanks…” Peter mumbled, sending the girl a shy smile of gratitude.

“No problem, loser. But you owe me for exhausting my efforts on someone with a pea-sized brain.” MJ smirked, flicking the boy on the head gently before running to her novel.

“Hey!”

The decathlon team soon shut themselves up from their miscellaneous conversations as the vehicle neared the massive tower, all of the teenagers too stunned and focused about missing a view of the building to talk.

To be fair, Peter could full heartedly understand their reaction to it. If he didn’t spend half of his life there, he would be mesmerized as well.

The tower was easily the tallest one in the New York area, acting as Stark Industries, Avengers Tower, and Mr. Stark’s New York home base all in one. No building could match the infrastructure of the tower, having the illuminating _A_ emblem at the rooftop to warn those coming in who they were messing with. All of the lights were on in the tower, since it was only 9:30 in the morning; most of the people in the tower were already milling around to accomplish their duties for the day.

All of them were oblivious that this would be Peter’s last day at the tower. Because the first chance he got, he was about to bolt for Tennessee.

“All right, please don't forget your bags everyone!” Mr. Harrington called out to the team as the bus pulled to a stop at the front of the building.

“Is it too late to skip this?” Peter grumbled under his breath, following MJ out of the bus as Ned trailed behind him, making sure he actually went inside.

“Oh, come on, Peter, stop being dramatic. I’m sure it won’t even be that bad.” Ned rolled his eyes, lightly hitting the boy’s arm.

His best friend shot him a pointed look, making him correct his statement.

“Okay, maybe you’ll be embarrassed for a little bit, but hey, at least the others will believe you now.” Ned relented, giving Peter an encouraging thumbs up before his attention was pulled away by the building’s interior design and impressive displays of technology.

The boy sighed, following his friends into the tower. He couldn’t really blame them. After all, the lobby itself was as big and grand as their auditorium back at the school, and this was just the lobby.

The walls were a pale creme, raising the room all the way up nearly twenty feet before they all met up with soft white lights, bright enough not to give Peter a blinding attack. Floor to ceiling windows took up nearly an entire wall, letting in the sunlight, giving the room a natural glow. Everything was pristine and grand, the best of its availability, because this was Tony Stark’s home and company. He had to have the best of everything.

Small couches and seating areas littered the hall, where press and businessmen would usually wait in hopes of meeting with the man himself, or at the most Miss CEO Pepper Potts if they were having a particularly lucky day. Small pots of greenery littered around the room, bringing a sense of homeliness to the massive lobby, while still retaining the technological aspects of the building, having dozens of small trinkets and floating devices for guests to view at.

Tony and Pepper really went for the interior design with this one. Mostly Pepper, Peter thought, biting back a smile as he followed his class up to the receptionist desk, where two people were waiting for them with pleasant smiles.

“Midtown? An all day tour?” the girl, who Peter vaguely recognized, asked for confirmation, checking her StarkPad for the team’s reservations.

“That’s us,” Mr. Harrington mustered, breaking his attention away from the grandeur of the tower to answer the woman.

“Great!” she smiled, nodding at her partner, who had a fistful of lanyards for the group.

Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap.

Peter totally forgot about the ID badges.

Well, not the badge itself, he’d be dead if he lost that.

But Mr. Stark had a policy on-

“Welcome to Stark Industries! My name’s Millie, and this is my partner Kai. We will be showing you guys around the tower today,” she introduced, tucking her StarkPad under her arm.

Kai started to pass each lanyard out to each teen as Millie began explaining the security system.

“These are your ID badge and security passes for today, and yes, you get to keep them after you leave. But they are automatically disabled under F.R.I.D.A.Y., Mr. Stark’s personal and corporate A.I., after you step out the doors so don’t go running off with them. And please keep them visible at all times. Our head of security isn’t really happy when passes aren’t visible.”

Millie sniffled a giggle at the pun, though only Peter and Kai got her light joke.

Kai continued to hand out all of the passes he was given, freezing when he was one short in front of Peter. “Uh, hey, Mills, I think we’re missing one.”

“Oh, n-no, it’s fi-” Peter stammered, not sure what he was supposed to do. Would his pass even work with F.R.I.D.A.Y.? He always went through the Avengers window!

“Huh. I was told to make only nine passes…” Millie murmured, looking at her StarkPad once more, finding the information. “Right. Says here Peter Parker is a part of this tour group, and he already has an intern pass. Peter Parker?”

“H-here.” Peter half raised his hand nervously, making Flash glare deep into the boy’s soul, as the rest of his team’s eyes widened.

The internship was _real_?

“Do you have your pass, Peter? I'm assuming you know about Mr. Stark’s pass policy, considering…” Millie trailed off, her eye catching at the level of clearance this boy had.

Who _was_ this boy? Was this Tony Stark’s infamous intern that no one rarely saw?

She had heard the stories and rumors from the upper level interns about the boy being young, but she didn’t expect him to be in _high school young_.

Opening her mouth to ask the boy on his clearance level, Millie quickly clamped it shut when she saw the boy’s pleading eyes, slipping on his badge as discreetly as possible, even going as far to flip it over so that the level wasn’t visible.

“Right. Nevermind.” Millie cleared her throat. “Well, please don’t lose these, as Mr. Stark has a strict policy against reprinting security passes. Firstly, it’s more waste going toward the environment, and secondly, having duplicate passes under the same person messes with F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s scan over the building.”

“Dude, this is awesome!” Ned hissed in his best friend’s ear, clutching at his visitor’s pass as if it were gold. “I’m never going to let this out of my sight!”

“Ned, that’s the point,” Peter forced a laugh, smiling at his best friend’s antics and excitement.

Now if only he could match that excitement, maybe he’d actually enjoy this trip.

“C’mon, guys, this way!” Kai cheered, leading the hoard of students towards the security scanner and metal detectors.

“These are just a normal routine that Mr. Stark requires everyone who enters the tower do,” the boy explained, not having been any older than at least twenty-four. “All you have to do is scan your badge and walk through the scanner. Don’t worry about taking anything off, we’re not TSA.”

Kai pressed his badge onto F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s scanner, walking through the archway as the A.I. called out his name and clearance.

“Kai Sevcenko, clearance level: Kappa Delta.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. recited, a green lighting the archway.

Millie walked forward, doing the same. “Millicent Glaesar, clearance level: Kappa Epsilon.”

“What do the clearance levels mean?” a student in the group asked, a bit confused by the Greek alphabet connection.

“Go on through and I’ll explain.” Kai chuckled, ushering the students through so they could start the tour.

“Eugene Thompson, clearance level: Omega.”

“Michelle Jones, clearance level: Omega.”

“Edward Leeds, clearance level: Omega.”

All of the students went through the scanner, one by one, all seemingly amazed that the A.I. knew their names, a burst of pride shooting through the teens as they walked through. Even Mr. Harrington was like a little boy when he scanned his pass, beaming like a child when he emerged on the other side.

There was only one student left.

Peter was considering bolting for the door at this point, clutching his badge tightly in his hands. He wasn’t even sure this would even work; he didn’t even bother wearing it when he was here, minus for when he worked in the public labs with Dr. Banner sometimes.

“Come on, Parker. We’re not gonna wait all day for you.” Flash snapped, glaring at the boy for making the group wait.

“Go ahead, Peter.” Millie encouraged, a secret smile on her lips as she knew the boy’s clearance level. His friends were about to be shocked.

Shutting his eyes in both nervousness and hatred for the entire building at this point, Peter quickly shoved his pass against F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s scanner, running through the scanner, as though if he ran through fast enough, F.R.I.D.A.Y. wouldn’t get a chance to call out his badge.

He was definitely mistaken.

“Peter Parker, clearance level Alpha. Welcome back, Peter. Should I inform Boss of your arrival?” F.R.I.D.A.Y. asked, greeting him politely.

“ _No_!” he might as well yelled, reaching out his hands to stop an invisible force. He caught sight of Ned’s face, as well as everyone else’s shocked expression, making his cheeks burn.

“I mean, no, F.R.I.D.A.Y., it’s fine. Don't tell him I’m here please.”

“My apologies, Peter. Mr. Stark has already been informed of your arrival via GPS locator.”

“Of course.” Peter swore under his breath, shuffling over to Ned and MJ, who could sense the boy’s mild discomfort.

“Well…” Millie cleared her throat, getting everyone’s attention again.

“To answer the question from earlier, our security system is based off of the Greek alphabet, as you could’ve guessed already. Each letter represents a different level and clearance. All of you, well, most of you, have Omega, which is the lowest and reserved for one time or infrequent visitors. Then next up is Sigma, which is for the press. Then the receptionists are Omicron, and interns, like me and Kai, are Kappa. But even interns have a ranking system that go along with the main one. It depends on what kind of intern you are. Kai’s a science intern, so his is Kappa Delta. I’m a medical intern, so mine’s Kappa Gamma. Mr. Hogan, our head of security, has the highest Theta badge. Business and everyone under Miss Potts usually have Zeta. Then finally, friends and extended family of the Avengers have Beta, while the Avengers themselves have Alpha, which is the highest clearance you’re able to get in the tower. Usually badges restrict you within your area, but the Avengers are able to move as freely as they wish.”

The team of decathlon students stood before the girl, sucking and absorbing her spiel about the security system of the tower. All of them were impressed and amazed at the detail going into the system, every intricate piece falling perfectly into the puzzle. Well, almost every piece.

“So, how come Peter has an Alpha badge if he’s an intern?” Cindy called out.

Peter sighed softly, his hands gripping at the badge, as if he were willing it to disappear. He didn’t blame his friends for being confused. As the system went, he should be wearing a Kappa badge.

But nooo, Tony Stark had to go and give him an Alpha badge.

Technically, he was an Avenger but still.

“That, I’m afraid, will have to be up to Mr. Stark to answer.” Kai chuckled, sensing the boy’s uncomfortableness at the sudden attention. “C’mon, we have a whole tower to explore!”

The students managed to shrug off their confusion and doubts about the boy, their focus more on exploring the tower and learning more about it.

Flash managed to sneak his way over to Peter, managing to painfully pinch the boy’s side quickly, hissing “You’re going to pay for that, Penis.”

“Knock it off, Flash. You’re just jealous that Peter’s smart enough to get an internship with Tony Stark, and you weren’t even considered.” Ned gloated, smirking at the bully.

“Fuck off, fatass.” Flash shot a menacing glare at the boy, giving both of them a powerful, yet quick enough shove as he returned back to his spot towards the front of the tour group.

“He’s going to get what’s coming to him some day.” MJ remarked, crumbling her nose as she stared at the privileged boy.

“More like today,” Peter mumbled, his Spidey senses picking up movement from a bit away.

An all too specific movement.

Oh no.

Nononononono.

Fuck, he needed to get out of ther-

“Son of Stark!” A voice boomed in greeting, nearly shaking the ground as he strolled towards the group, who were heading towards the elevator. “I have not seen you in ages!”

Shit.

“Not his son.” Peter automatically replied, swearing out Mr. Stark in his head for allowing this to happen.

Thor walked up to him, hammer in hand as he beamed down at the boy, not so gently clapping him on the back. Loki was nowhere to be seen, which only made his worries skyrocket even further.

“Right, right, of course. How are you doing, Man of Sp-”

“Peter! What a _surprise_!” Loki suddenly appeared, a flash of green light dissolving around him, scaring the students around him. Some of them yelped in surprise, making the god frown slightly. Others were wide eyed, too much in shock of being in the presence of two Norse gods to actually compute something.

“Right. _Surprise_.” The boy grumbled, knowing very well that this was, in fact, not a surprise.

“It’s nice to see you though.” Peter managed a smile, giving both of the gods a side hug.

“The feeling is returned!” Thor boomed, twirling his hammer dangerously close to Flash’s face. “And who are these little Midgardans?”

Peter’s face burned, looking back at his stunned teammates.

MJ still looked indifferent as usual, though he had the slightest suspicion she was trying to bite back a laugh at his definite face of crisis. Based on the expression on Ned’s face, he wasn’t sure his best friend would be able to sleep by the end of today.

It was literally only ten in the morning and Ned’s already lost his shit.

“Oh, uh, I’m on a field trip.” He explained, trying to get rid of the two gods before Flash could say anything to doom himself into impending death. “Mr. Thor, you haven’t had PopTarts in a while, have you? You should go get some!”

“Oh, well, I had some the other day, but more cannot hurt!” The thunder god said cheerfully, swinging his hammer once again as he waved goodbye to the kids.

“Idiot.” Loki frowned, dramatically sighing as he touched his hand to his face. “I must go and stop him from hoarding another shipment of those wretched pastries. I will see you later, Peter.”

As Loki started to walk away from the group, Flash stormed over to the boy, roughly grabbing his wrist while the rest of the group was ushered towards the elevator. “What the hell was that?”

“That was two gods who I know having a conversation with me.” Peter rolled his eyes, ripping his wrist away from the boy.

“You’re going to wish you never met them, Penis.” He spat, giving the boy a shove before quickly joining the group in the elevator, acting as if nothing had happened.

But something did happen.

Just as the degrading nickname left Flash’s mouth, Loki had suddenly stopped walking, making Peter panic. He quietly swore under his breath, telling the god that he was fine, knowing that he was able to hear it.

Peter quickly ran into the elevator just as Kai asked Friday to lead them into the historical exhibit to begin their tour, Loki’s angry glare at the back of his head.

It was going to be an interesting day all right.

Let’s just see if Flash survives.


	5. Peter Parker Is Having a Panic Attack

Correction.

Peter wasn’t sure if _he_ would survive. 

Tony, being the egotistical asshole that he was, decided that the one thing that he would allow Peter to do peacefully was to sit through the hour long lecture of Stark Industries history, forcing his intern to listen to the story that Tony himself had told him countless times. 

Peter started to get restless, his constant foot tapping on the floor distracting MJ from listening. The curly haired girl sighed, taking out her mini sketch pad, scribbling a math equation on it before shoving it into the boy’s hands. 

“Solve it.” She whispered, eyes never leaving the exhibit that Kai was currently talking about. 

He looked at her in surprise, a bit shocked at her attention to detail. How did MJ know that working on equations could calm him down?

Nonetheless, he started to drown out Kai’s lecture, instead focusing his attention to the math problem MJ had scribbled. He acted as though he were taking notes, though Peter probably knew more about the history than Kai and Millie did together. 

Thanks a lot, Mr. Stark. 

Peter wasn’t particularly paying attention anymore as the tour soon got up to leave the exhibit, his eyes still working out the equation MJ gave him.

Turns out, she had picked one of the unsolved math problems in the world of mathematics, forcing him to bring his focus away from the tour. He walked and wrote out numericals at the same time, making sure he had the group around him as guides, being oblivious to his teacher’s warning that he was about to walk into a door. 

“As you can see here, Captain America, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, and the Winter Soldier are currently training.” Millie explained from behind the glass screen. “We have been allowed to see a part of their training, and later, F.R.I.D.A.Y. will allow you guys access to walk in and even get some tips and tricks on self defense from them. But that’ll come after they show us some of their moves.” 

“Peter!” Ned called out to the boy, biting back a laugh as Peter walked straight through the gym door, which was locked for the interns and visitors. 

“Peter Parker, clearance level: Alpha, has entered the training gym.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced, making the four Avengers in the room snap their attention over to the door, along with Peter’s own attention finally ripping away from the sketch pad. 

“Finally, Peter! We were wondering when you’d show up.” Bucky grinned, nodding at Steve to initiate their plan.

“Wha-?” The boy glanced up, a bit confused on how he managed to enter into the gym. 

“Well, we were going to fight one on one but since Peter’s here,” Natasha held an evil grin as she turned to the boy. “Why not test out how his training is?” 

“What?! No! No, no, no, no!” Peter, slightly horrified by the idea of fighting three super soldiers and a telekinetic witch, quickly backed away from them, shaking his head furiously. “No!”

“Why not, Peter? Tony said you said you leveled up in your training.” Wanda remarked, tying up her hair into a ponytail. 

“Now, I’m not sure if this is safe-“ Mr. Harrington started, a bit worried for his student. Sure, he was an intern, but to fight four of the _Avengers_? Even that was downright unbelievable. 

“He’ll be fine. Won’t you, паук ребенок?” Natasha’s sweet tone was vicious to him, a secret no nonsense command hidden in it, making even Steve flinch slightly at the sound of it. 

“This is not fair at all.” Peter glared, grumbling as he wrenched off his backpack and hoodie, throwing them on a bench as he delicately set down MJ’s sketch pad. “Who decided it would be four against one?! I’m literally a kid!” 

“That’s not what you said last time.” Steve clicked his tongue, smirking as each of the Avengers walked to each corner of the room. 

“Besides.” Wanda smiled. “Who said it was four?” 

“Wait, who else is-“ Peter didn’t have the chance to finish his sentence as Steve threw his shield towards the boy, easily dodging and ricocheting it with his leg towards Bucky. It hit the man in the chest, sending him flying into the wall, groaning. 

“Well, that was eas-“ Natasha came charging at him full speed, barely giving him enough time to wrap his arms around her legs, swinging her over his shoulder and flipping himself over in order to pin her down.

Steve came at him, and Peter reacted quickly, using Natasha as a shield and flipping them over so that Nat guarded him from Steve’s attack. Peter quickly twisted her arm, kicking the woman in the leg to make her kick Steve as well.

The three of them did a dance almost, mesmerizing his teammates from outside the glass window. He finally got both of them out by making them charge at each other, effectively diving out of the way at the last second before he was tackled.

Now finally, Wanda’s eyes glowed as she conjured magic energy, not enough to hurt the boy, but enough to end the fight if she wanted.

Peter knew better than to think of his battle strategy, closing his eyes and emptying his mind, instead relying on his senses to make his way towards her, dodging the red beams of light as he finally brought her to the ground, hugging her waist. 

The teen let her go, breathing heavily as he looked at the four Avengers around him, realization coming upon his face when he realized he had beat them all.

“Oh my _God_ , I did it. I actually did it. I ACTUALLY DID IT!” He yelled, not even caring that his classmates were aghast by what just happened. 

Peter Parker just took down four Avengers. 

PETER PARKER.

TOOK DOWN.

FOUR AVENGERS. 

Well, maybe that was said too soon.

As the boy was cheering his victory, his Spidey senses went off, signaling that something was above him, but Peter didn’t listen to them, instead basking in his rare win. 

Mistake number three. 

Clint came pummeling down from the vents, landing on top of the boy with a groan. 

“THAT’S CHEATING!” Peter yelled, his voice muffled to the ground.

His heart was starting to race from being pinned down to the mat.

Or was it the adrenaline?

Or just the exercise in general?

Either way, breathing was starting to get difficult. 

Extremely difficult. 

“You can’t let your ground down, Petey,” the archer singsonged, oblivious to the boy's internal struggles as he pinned him down. 

Ned, knowing what had happened at Homecoming, had replaced his astonishment and pure pride and joy in his best friend for worry.

He knew that Peter couldn’t handle anything pinning him to the ground (he had learned the hard way after a surprise tackle); it would send him into a full fledged panic attack. 

But the Avengers didn’t know that. 

“So, uh, can we go and train with them now?!” Ned asked Kai, turning to the older boy with desperate eyes. The intern chuckled, taking the boy’s eyes to mean excitement of meeting the soldiers. 

“Sure, it seems their test run went perfect. Good job, Peter!” Kai called into the room, asking F.R.I.D.A.Y. to allow them into the room, which the A.I. obliged to, under Steve’s permission. “Go on, everyone! I’m sure they all have different tips for self defense for you. Millie and I will wait outside in case anything happens, and we’ll call you all to get lunch after this, so enjoy training!” 

Ned practically raced inside the gym, where Clint was helping Peter up, not noticing how glassy the boy’s eyes were or how shaky he was. 

“Still a good fight though, bud.” Clint grinned, clapping him on the back. Peter offered him a weak smile, muttering something about needing a break before slumping to the bench, trying to regulate his breathing before anyone noticed. 

“Hey, hey. It’s okay.” Ned whispered, digging through the boy’s backpack for a water bottle. “Drink some, you’ll feel better.” 

Peter thanked his best friend, taking the bottle as everyone else went up to each Avenger, still star struck and in awe.

Flash had gone up to Steve’s group, oblivious to the fact that all five soldiers hated his guts and was planning on giving him the same beat down he had given their nephew. The bully was just itching to get the boy alone to poke at him again, but he wasn’t about to give up a chance to get some advice on how to _properly_ fight the little bitch. 

Peter didn’t even register what was happening, or even that his uncles and aunts were in close contact with Flash and even had a good reason and excuse to intentionally hurt the boy. His brain was too jumbled, the only thing on his mind was the cement building on top of him. 

You’re okay. 

There’s no building. 

You’re okay. 

There’s no building. 

_There’s no building, Parker._

Peter nearly downed the entire bottle, his nerves still spiking with every second. His leg bounced with every breath he took, though it still felt way too abnormal. Ned was looking at him with worry, whispering something about the bathroom. Peter only nodded, taking full sprint to the closest bathroom, and left Ned behind to stammer out an excuse about him needing to freshen up. 

He tore himself inside a stall, locking it as he slid down the wall, pulling his knees up to his chest as he tried to control his shaky breathing. 

There’s no building, Parker. 

There’s no fucking building. 

God, why did he have to have so many attacks. This was the fourth day in a row. 

He can’t be Spider-Man if he’s crying like this all the time. 

He can’t save people if he's sitting in a bathroom sobbing. 

Just like he couldn’t save Uncle Ben. 

Why him?

Why him? 

_Why him?_

Tears streamed down his face as he sucked in gulps of air, the air in the room starting to deplete. Rapidly. He fumbled with his phone, desperate to find anyone, literally anyone, who could get his breathing back to normal. But Peter couldn’t even see his screen, his teary eyes and shaking hands too much for him to accurately put in his passcode. 

“F-F.R.I-I.D.A-A.Y.?” He managed, his own voice choking in on itself as he ragged out the name. Peter felt as if he were suffocating, the air thinning at an alarming rate around him.

“Peter, you seem to be having a panic attack. Informing Mr. Stark.” 

“Sir, Peter seems to be having a severe panic attack in bathroom 56J.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced to the living room, where Tony was enjoying a mug of coffee, finally enjoying a moment of silence for once.

He was basking in some rare quality time away from the lab. By planning new suits nonetheless, but still relaxing. 

“Shit.” The billionaire cursed, already on his way into the elevator, his earlier plans of hijacking the kid’s trip halting. “F.R.I.D.A.Y., stop everyone going in and out of rooms until further notice. Including elevators. What was the trigger?” 

“It seems to have been triggered by Mr. Barton falling on top of him during training, sir.” 

“Falling on him?” Tony furrowed his eyebrows, perplexed by the sudden information. Barton falling on him gave him a panic attack? Surely, that’s happened at least a few dozen times before. Did the Flash kid make it worse? 

He didn’t even bother to take the main elevator, instead taking the Avengers only elevator down to Peter’s level. Tony’s foot impatiently tapped as F.R.I.D.A.Y. whisked him down, his worry for the sweet boy rising. 

Tony himself knew firsthand how severe and scary panic attacks could be; hell, he’s literally had panic attacks over the boy’s safety sometimes, waking up in cold sweat with Pepper’s soothing voice guiding him back to reality.

He had to force himself to stay in bed, forcing himself to be assured with F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s scan that Peter was only doing patrol and not dying. He’s had panic attacks over the constant battles in his head, remembering his worldly duties; he’s had panic attacks over his teammates, imagining their deaths, blaming it on himself as he was _so_ close to them, yet couldn’t save them in time. 

The brain really had its ways to make sure he stayed alive. 

And to know that Peter was going through the same thing? That hurt more than anything in the world. 

Tony ripped himself from the elevator as it stopped, his eyes going wild as they searched for the bathroom Peter was in, F.R.I.D.A.Y. eventually having to guide him through the maze of hallways and rooms. He pushed the bathroom door open, his ears instantly being hit with Peter’s muffled sobbing. 

“Underoos, hey. Hey, hey, I’m here.” Tony said gently, taking off his glasses as he slowly walked towards the last stall. “I’m here, Underoos. Can you hear me?”

“Y-yeah…” Peter choked out, his breath catching on the thin air of the room. 

“Can you unlock the stall for me, kiddo?” He asked, trying to mimic his voice to how Pepper's was when he had an attack. 

Gentle, hushed, warm. 

Peter tried his best to reach for the lock, pushing his shaking hand towards the handle, managing to push it in the right direction. 

Tony pulled open the door, his breath catching on how vulnerable and small the boy looked. He wanted nothing more than to take away his pain, to hold him in his arms and protect him from what caused this. But he knew that touching someone could do more damage than good in this situation.

“Good job, Underoos. I’m so proud of you.” He crouched down to the boy, sitting on the floor next to him, leaving a bit of space for Peter’s comfort. “Can you do something for me, kiddo? Can you tell me five things you can see for me?” 

Peter pulled his head up from his arms, his ragged breathing still going as he rubbed his eyes, stammering out an answer. “Y-you. Me-e. F-flo-or. Uh-um, do-door. L-li-ight.” 

“I’m so proud of you. You’re doing amazing, Pete. Can you tell me four things you can touch?” Tony breathed, a soft smile on his face.

The boy swallowed, his throat feeling as though he had ten ice cubes in it. “Y-you. Sh-shirt. F-floor. Do-oor.” 

“You’re incredible, Underoos.” Tony nodded, immensely proud of his boy. “Can you tell me three things you can hear?” 

“You.” He managed, closing his eyes to try to focus on his hearing without having it overbearing. “Nat. N-Ned.” 

The man smiled, something touching in his heart that he was Peter’s first answer for all three grounding practices. “You’re doing wonderful. Now, two things you can smell?” 

“You. P-PopTarts.” 

“I’m so fucking proud of you, kiddie.” Tony murmured, looking over at the boy, whose breathing was starting to calm down, his shaking body stilling. “Now, can you tell me one thing you can taste?” 

“Tears.” Peter replied, tasting the tears as they seeped down his face. 

“Good job, kiddo. You did amazing,” Tony said gently, his voice instantly soothing the boy. He released a shuddering breath, slowly crawling towards his mentor. Tony opened his arms, and Peter attacked them, diving into his touch and whimpering. 

“What’s wrong, Underoos? What happened?” The man asked, gently patting the boy’s head. 

“I’m sorry,” Peter whispered, clutching the man’s shirt tightly. 

“No, no. Don’t be. You have nothing to apologize for. Everyone has attacks. You know I do.” Tony quickly reassured the intern, brushing away the boy’s tears. “But what’s wrong, Pete? F.R.I.D.A.Y. tells me you’re having nightmares, and you can’t sleep without me. What’s going on?” 

“I just...I can’t sleep without feeling like I’m being crushed.” Peter whispered, his eyes closing. 

He kept it a secret for so long. So long. 

And now everything’s going to be ruined. 

“By Clint?” The man asked, his brows furrowing again. If the birdbrain did this to Peter, he was as good as gone. 

“N-no, no. By a building.” Peter whispered the last word, making Tony’s heart stop in his chest. 

A building? 

A _building_? 

A fucking _building_? 

WHEN WAS PETER CRUSHED BY A FUCKING BUILDING?

“Peter. When were you crushed by a building.” Tony closed his eyes as he held the boy in his arms, praying and pleading that he misunderstood. Just anything other than what he was implying. 

“At Homecoming,” The boy whispered, quickly adding “but it’s not your fault, Mr. Stark.”

Homecoming. 

After he took away Peter’s suit. 

Without Karen. 

Without any back up. 

Without any communication. 

Nothing. 

It _was_ his fault. 

“Mr. Stark, please, it’s not your fault.” Peter repeated, a bit louder this time, as he couldn’t hear the man’s breathing anymore. 

Hell, Tony wasn’t even sure his heart was even beating with this information. 

“What happened?” He asked, his voice thick, feeling as though he were being stabbed in the chest.

“W-well, the Vulture guy and I were fighting and, and then he knocked out the foundation to the building-! And then it just fell on top of me and I couldn’t breathe and then I got stuck and I couldn’t call anyone because I put my phone in a car to track them and-!”

Tony couldn’t even start to process what Peter was rambling about, the sole image in his mind of the boy being crushed by tons of concrete and rubble, unable to do anything to get the cement off of him because Tony had taken away the boy’s suit, enabling him with no communication. Slowly being crushed and helpless, and what was Tony doing? Fuming that Peter had disobeyed his direct orders and lied to him. 

“Oh my _God_ , Peter. It’s my fault. This is why you can’t sleep, isn’t it. Oh my God, Peter, I am so sorry. God, _fuck_.” Tony was rambling now, repeating apologies over and over again, his mind plagued with guilt and anger at himself.

“No! Mr. Stark, it’s not your fault!” The boy sniffed, looking up at the man. “I got out. I got myself out. And it was by thinking of you.” 

“Wha- _why_?” The man asked, all sense of time leaving him. He stared at the boy, wondering how on God’s green earth did Peter manage to survive that. And by thinking of him, the man who literally put him in danger, nonetheless. 

“Well, on the ferry. You said you wanted me to be better than you. And I didn’t really get what you meant because like you’re _you_ but I don’t know. Under all the rubble, I just-I just thought about how you would get out if that was you.” The boy stammered, rambling again, not noticing how teary eyed the billionaire genius was. 

“You’re everything I wanted you to be. And more. And you make me proud of you every day. You’re so much better than me in every way, Underoos,” The man breathed, letting out a shuddering sigh. “I’m so sorry I made you feel like you weren’t.” 

“It’s not your fault, Mr. Stark.” Peter repeated, hugging the man tightly. “It never was.” 

Tony wasn't sure his conscience could believe that, but he still nodded, resting his chin on top of the boy’s head. Peter let out a content sigh, his shaking dissolving away after a few more minutes.

“Come on, let’s get you back to the tour.” Tony suddenly remembered, checking his watch to see only about ten minutes or so had passed. “You don’t want to miss anything.” 

The brunette boy groaned softly, wiping away at his face as he pulled away from the man. Tony stood, helping Peter stand as well. 

“Do you _want_ to go back to the tour?” Tony asked honestly, looking at the boy in the eyes. “You don’t have to, you know. I’ll get your teacher to release you early.” 

“No, it’s okay, Mr. Stark.” Peter sniffed, letting out a sigh as he gave up his only chance to get out of his doom. “I can go back. We have lunch afterwards anyways, everyone’s just training-” the boy cut himself off, a look of horror flying to his face as he finally realized what he had done. 

He left Flash in the hands of five angry super soldiers. 

Correction. 

Five angry super soldiers who wanted him on the floor begging for mercy. 

_Shit_. 

Tony couldn’t help but laugh at Peter’s mortified face, leading him to the sink. “Wash up, Underoos, and then you can go back to see if he’s still able to walk.” 

“Mr. Stark!”

“Well, he should be. I told them to make sure he’s alive.” 

“MR. STARK!” 

Peter audibly groaned at the man’s malicious laughter, running the tap on cold water and splashing his face with some of it to get rid of his tear stains. He went over to the paper dispenser, drying his hands and face before turning to leave before Tony. 

“And, kid?” Tony called, just before the boy left. “I’m always here if you need to talk.” 

Peter smiled at the man, nodding. “Ditto for you, Mr. Stark.” 


	6. Peter Parker Is Angry

Peter left for fifteen minutes. 

Fifteen long, antagonizing minutes. 

But he wouldn’t trade them for anything.

Ever. 

It had made his hindering relationship with his mentor all the more closer, the boy finally revealing what has been tormenting his sleep schedule for the past month. 

But in those fifteen minutes, Flash Thompson managed to get a huge blue bruise and a cut on his lip. 

The spider themed hero slipped back into the gym, trying to look inconspicuous as possible as he walked over to the bench where his belongings were at. Peter looked out into the gym, scanning to find his friends amongst the chaos.

Ned was talking to Clint, who was delighted by the boy’s such strong admiration, chuckling as Ned awed at the archer’s arrows and precision.

MJ was wide eyed, staring in pure amazement as Wanda giggled, levitating some of the students up in the air a few feet. It defied any definition of physics and gravity and just _life_ , but damn, that was some powerful shit if she ever saw some.

Flash was now cockily challenging Bucky to a fight, seeing as Peter had managed to knock him out first in their fight from earlier. He assumed that because since the little bitch was able to knock this soldier out, surely he would be able to. 

Bucky smirked, nodding as he agreed to the fight with the teenager, fully knowing that Peter had returned and was warily watching him and his metal arm. “Go on, then.” 

“Buck, are you sure-” Steve rose a perfect arch of an eyebrow, getting cut off by Flash charging at the soldier, getting easily flipped and pinned down rather roughly on the mat by Bucky’s metal arm. 

“You are foolish to charge without seeing what your opponent is capable of, child.” Bucky smirked, pressing down on the boy’s chest in a warning.

“Then how the hell did Parker beat your ass then?” Flash snapped, wheezing for air. He didn’t even care about disrespecting an Avenger at this point; Flash’s anger was too high for him to care about anything besides _beating Peter Parker._

“What did you just say?” the soldier snarled, his grip tightening on the boy, his glare venomous. Clearly Flash had no idea how much danger he was in, or who he was messing with. 

Peter’s eyes widened at the sheer disrespect Flash gave his uncle, racing over, along with Steve, to stop him from doing something he would regret. Peter pried Bucky’s arm off of the teenager, constantly repeating “Mr. Bucky, it’s fine” quietly, walking him away from the boy, who was still seething in anger. 

The patriotic hero helped the boy up, though he gripped his hand painfully tight, clapping him on the back even a bit harder. “Might want to watch what you say around here, kid. We don’t like bullies around here.” 

Flash only sent the soldier a glare, ripping his hand away from the man as he stormed away, making the atmosphere in the room tense. Peter was hugging the Winter Soldier, his cheeks a bit pink as Bucky let him go, petting him on the head gently, murmuring something that only the boy could hear. 

Millie and Kai exchanged some looks, deciding to call for lunch a bit early to free everyone from the tension in the training room.

“All right, everyone, follow me, and we’ll lead you down to one of the cafeterias!” Millie called, waving everyone back to the door. “Don’t forget your belongings please!”

Peter mumbled a goodbye to the rest of his extended family, giving them all a brief hug and “thanks, love yous” before grabbing his backpack, hoodie, and MJ’s sketch pad and leaving behind his friends. 

“Well, that went well.” Clint said cheerfully, waving to some of the students who looked back at the heroes.

“You almost shot an arrow at the boy!” Wanda scolded, smacking the archer on the arm. “We all agreed we wouldn’t kill him!”

“And I didn’t! I only missed and cut his lip. Scared him enough though,” Clint waved her off, not caring much about nicking the boy’s lip. 

“You never miss.” Steve pointed out.

“Things can happen.”

“You shot an arrow at him on purpose, didn’t you?” Nat smirked.

“I can neither confirm or deny that.”

“Bucky, you almost suffocated him.” the witch reprimanded, shaking her head at the soldier. 

“Mission is to protect Spider-Baby.” Bucky only shrugged, not caring much about the consequences of threatening the boy. “He put himself in that position by hurting Peter far much worse.” 

“He’s got a point,” Steve sighed, eyes flicking over to the clock. “Tony and Pepper are up next with the plan.” 

“Loki texted me telling me that Flash was bothering Peter earlier,” Nat told her teammates, pulling out her phone and reading a text from the trickster god. “F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s got everything recorded.” 

“Good. Let’s get this boy expelled from Midtown.” Steve finally smirked, standing up straight. 

No one messed with their nephew. 

He had an entire army of people ready to avenge him. 

~

“Go ahead and grab some food; the cafeteria is a free for all, and there’s always food being restocked if things get low!” Millie led the bundle of energies into the massive dining hall, guiding them towards a more empty area near the ceiling high windows. 

“Feel free to sit wherever after you grab your food. Lunch will be around an hour, and you’re free to use the bathroom and wander around and ask the other interns about their jobs. They’re definitely used to answering questions. I think that’s it…” Kai added. “Oh, and please stay in this room if you’re done with your food! Don’t want anyone wandering off.” 

“Try the croissants! They’re delicious!” Millie called after the students, who were hungrily heading for the food trays prepared for the staff in the tower. 

Peter stayed back, pulling out his phone to read a text from his mentor. 

IronDad: Don’t get the cafeteria stuff @ lunch

IronDad: I got you and your buddies food so I’m not sued for child abuse 

IronDad: Pep’s bringing it to you

IronDad: And don’t eat your girlfriend’s food

Underoos: NOT MY GF 

Underoos: but tysm :D 

The boy looked up, calling out to Ned and MJ before they could touch the food trays. “Guys, come back!” Peter called, waving them back over and waggling his phone. 

“What did that loser do this time?” MJ mumbled to herself, eyes tearing away from the delicious looking plates of spaghetti to follow Ned back to Peter's table. 

“You better have a good reason for starving us right now, loser.” the girl jokingly glared, plopping down on the seat across from him as Ned took a seat next to Peter.

“Mr. Stark bought us some food! Miss Potts should be bringing it-”

The small commotion from the room quickly quieted themselves as the CEO of the tower walked out of the elevator, all of her glory lighting up the room. She was beautiful yet authoritative; there was no doubt about why she was Tony Stark’s commanding officer. Only she would be able to put up with his bullshit.

Her strawberry blonde hair was pulled back into a low bun, her usual business attire making her radiate a powerful but glowing aura. Around her neck was the shrapnel necklace she never took off, and even now, Pepper touched it subconsciously, looking for Peter, as her assistant carried the kids’ food orders. Her stilettos clicked at the floor as she murmured something to her assistant, tapping at her earpiece when she finally locked eyes with the sweet boy.

And as if she could be any more beautiful, Pepper Potts practically lit up at the sight of her honorary son. She smiled warmly at the boy’s table, heading over to the boy with the bags of fast food, which she highly disapproved of. 

“Hey, Peter,” she looked around for any of his classmates, quickly pressing a kiss to his temple. Ned nearly had a heart attack when she waved and greeted him and MJ.

“Tony got you guys some cheeseburgers and fries; said something about it being better than the cafeteria food.” Pepper huffed, rolling her eyes. “But you can eat whatever you’d like. How’s the field trip so far?” 

“Well, Flash is still alive,” Peter remarked, quickly digging into his bag and shoving the other two at his friends. “Which is good, I guess. Other than that, bearable. Somewhat.”

“Yo-you’re Pepper Potts!” Ned whispered screamed, his tact leaving him completely as Peter, mid bite of his burger, suddenly remembered that he never made proper introductions. 

“Oh, right! Miss Potts, these are my friends, Ned and MJ.” Peter quickly introduced, his stomach gurgling at the delicious smell of the food. 

“Nice to meet you, Miss Potts.” MJ managed politely, still a bit starstruck by the woman.

I mean, she’s literally had dreams of meeting the most powerful woman in the world, but she’s _literally_ meeting the most powerful woman in the world who was able to control _Tony Stark_? 

After meeting _and_ sparring with Natasha Romanoff _and_ Wanda Maximoff?

At this point, she would die happy. 

Ned, on the other hand, was having trouble formulating a proper sentence, his star gazed eyes making it quite clear he was having _another_ star struck moment. 

Pepper chuckled at the two friends, shaking her head at Peter’s rapid eating. “Peter, slow down. And just Pepper, please, I’ve told you countless times.” 

“Sorrth!” the boy managed around a massive bite of burger, making the woman sigh, turning to his friends. 

“It’s really nice to finally meet you both. Are you going to be staying after school today?”

Both Ned and MJ whipped their heads over at Peter in question, who again was trapped in an untimely situation, as his mouth was still full of food. 

“Wha-?”

“Peter! You haven’t told them yet?” Pepper lightly scolded, laughing at his muffled whine. She turned to the two teens, explaining what Peter was supposed to do much earlier. “Tony allowed Peter to invite the both of you to stay after the tour today.” 

“You moron! How could you forget to tell us that!?” MJ hissed, smacking the boy on the arm, which made Pepper laugh. 

“Serves you right, Peter.” the woman smirked, deciding that MJ would be a good match for her son. “MJ, feel free to keep him in line.”

“We get to visit the tower!?” Ned squeaked, nearly squealed. 

“Who gets to visit the tower?” Flash’s voice instantly cut the excited, light hearted mood of the table, the boy himself strolling over with his plates of food. Pepper automatically turned her face and body away from the boy, making Peter wince as she commanded her assistant to record what the boy was saying. 

“We do! Peter’s letting me and MJ visit his lab!” Ned boasted in the bully’s face, seemingly snapping out of his star gazed eyes. 

“What lab? As if Penis Parker actually has a lab here. Tony Stark probably keeps him around as a little play toy, like those gay ass soldiers.” Flash scoffed, his ego still wounded from being defeated and called out by his heroes, his former love and admiration for them being replaced with disdain.

He didn’t stop to notice the CEO of the tower standing three feet away from him, or how Peter suddenly froze in place, fuming with anger.

It was one thing to insult him.

But insult Mr. Stark?

Game. _On_. 

Pepper was infuriated with every being of her body, all for Tony’s, Peter’s, Steve’s, and Bucky’s sake. How dare that boy show so much disrespect for her family? 

_How dare he_? 

In their own _home_?

Ned clapped a hand on Peter’s shoulder, forcing the boy to continue eating as Flash only rolled his eyes, calling the pair some derogatory slurs before stalking off. 

“Peter, does that happen a lot?” Pepper’s voice was scarily level, making Ned and MJ shiver at mere calmness of it. Peter, who was still angry, only bit into his burger, refusing to answer the woman. 

“Peter.” the CEO repeated, her ‘mom’ voice coming out, making the boy flinch. 

He swallowed, looking down at his hands. “He never used to…”

“I’ll see you at the Q and A, honey.” Pepper suddenly straightened, tapping at her earpiece and turning to her assistant. “Bye, Peter! See you later, Ned, MJ!”

“I’m done for.” Peter groaned, burying his face into his hands as the two women walked away, knowingly going to inform Tony about the full extent of Peter’s bullying. 

“Hey, cheer up. At least you’ll be murdered by us first for, I don’t know, _not telling us that we were invited over_?” MJ glared at the boy, smacking him one more time for good measure. 

“I’m sorry! It slipped my mind!” he whined, pouting as he rubbed at his arm. 

MJ smirked at him, a part of her relieved to see some of the anger diffused from him. She didn’t like seeing him angry. It didn’t fit him. 

“They’re going to kill him at this rate,” Peter muttered, unsure if it was to himself or his friends. “And I’m not sure if I’d stop them.” 

“Hey, c’mon. You know he’s just Flash.” Ned argued, earning a sigh from Peter. 

He _did_ know it was just Flash being, well, flashy. The boy never meant half of his insults, only doing whatever it took to feel temporarily powerful and gain control in his life. 

But it still stung sometimes. 

Just sometimes.

“You know what’s next on the list?” Ned asked, munching on his fries. 

Peter shook his head, sipping on his strawberry milkshake. “Mr. Stark just told me there’d be a Q and A at the end.” 

“We actually get to meet the _Avengers…_ ” Ned breathed, dramatically sighing as he rested his elbow on the table. “What if the Scarlet Witch falls in love with me?”

MJ snorted, rolling her eyes at the boy. “If Wanda Maximoff falls in love with you, then I’d marry Tony Stark.” 

Peter wrinkled his nose, not liking either of those ideas. He did not like those ideas at all.

Especially MJ marrying Mr. Stark.

 _Especially_ that one.

“You two are disgusting.” 

“Whatever, you’re saying that because you’re practically related to them.” 

“Well, Auntie Natasha is definitely the queen of the entire world.” Peter relented, pointing a fry at MJ and Ned. 

“No way, Pepper is.” MJ shook her head in disagreement as Ned’s eyes turned into saucers at Peter’s use of “auntie.” “She controls _Tony fucking Stark._ ”

“Well, to be fair, all three of them are the boss around the tower.” The boy admitted. “Everyone’s scared of them.” 

“Even _Thor_?” Ned’s eyes opened wider, if that was even possible at this point. 

Peter laughed, nodding his head. “ _Especially_ Thor.” 

The trio of friends continued through their lunch, laughing and giggling at their banter, Ned and MJ’s earlier astonishment of Peter’s close relationship with each Avenger slowly diminishing as he continued to speak about them as normal people, with flaws and their own humanness.

The more the boy talked, the more the two got to know the Avengers not as the heroes they served as, but as people with their own quirks and personalities. 

Peter revealed that Thor loved to have his hair braided and played with.

Steve enjoyed cooking and baking different recipes.

Bucky adored magnets and sifting through Tony’s scrap pieces with Peter.

Wanda enjoyed singing Sokovian lullabies to him when he was restless.

Clint enjoyed ‘venting’, as Peter had called it (which was just using the vents as his own way of getting around and then jumping out of them without warning).

Tony was actually a huge softy around Pepper, rarely able to tell her ‘no’.

Rhodey loved to play cards and tell him stories about Tony being a dumbass in college.

Nat was actually a huge Mama Bear, especially with Peter and Clint’s kids.

Loki actually was quite the performer (Peter once caught him belting _All I Want For Christmas Is You_ at two in the morning on Christmas Eve).

Bruce was actually quite nerdy and geeky, loving to work on puzzles and watch Star Wars with him in his rare spare time. 

All of them were super humanly powerful, but what made them heroes weren’t their superpowers.

It was their weaknesses and insecurities, the things that they hid from the public, that made them heroes.

It was their sheer dedication to protect the world, no matter how the world thought of them. It was ignoring the risk of death everytime they charged into direct danger.

It was the self-sacrificing unity (and bullshit) that they all silently acted upon. 

They had put aside their differences and difficult pasts. They had moved forward together. 

Because regardless of their deepest fears, they charged into battle with no hesitation; they couldn't lose more people. Not again.

Not after Howard and Maria. Not after Pietro. Not after Peggy. Not after Ben. 

Not again. 

They couldn’t lose anyone else.

Not anymore. 


	7. Peter Parker Is Being Avenged

Pepper Potts was the boss of the tower. 

Everyone knew her, and everyone respected her. 

And no one dared to cross her. 

She walked into her office, the room itself comparably bigger and grander than Tony’s own office opposite of her own that he rarely used. Floor to ceiling windows illuminated the far wall behind her desk, giving the woman the perfect view of the New York City skyline as she spun around in her chair. Plush white chairs were spread in front of the desk, giving lawyers and snobby businessmen perfect access to speak with the CEO, along with a chaise in the corner of the room, with a coffee table in front of it for a more casual setting.

Everything in the room was a perfect representation of the woman who inhabited it nearly fifteen hours each day: sleek, elegant, and sophisticated. It wasn’t tech orientated like her fiance’s, but something that seemingly walked out of a magazine.

Just like she did.

The chairwoman closed her eyes in both frustration and anger, her feet slipping out of her stilettos as she sank them into the plush carpet underneath her desk, taking five seconds to collect her thoughts.

She rubbed her temples, Flash’s previous words running through her mind on repeat. 

“Amelia, collect any data you have on Eugene Thompson from Midtown High School, and report it to me as soon as you can.” Pepper spoke, her blue eyes still hidden from view.

“On it, Miss.” her assistant nodded quickly, placing her StarkPad and the files that they were previously working on in front of Pepper, before taking her leave. 

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., please call Tony in here.” the woman told the A.I., having no bothers to text her fiance when she knew he wouldn’t answer anyways. 

“Of course, Mrs. Stark.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. replied, much to her chagrin. Pepper let out an amused huff at the name, a familiar warmness filling her chest and stomach. 

No matter how many times she tells Tony to fix her name in F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s database, the man refuses to change it, having claimed that he won her fair and square, and that he was going to shout it to the world that he, Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, _ex_ -playboy, and philanthropist, had won the most capable, beautiful, and powerful woman in the entire damn world. 

And no matter how much Pepper chastises him for it, she still adores him for how much he _believes_ in her. 

Believed in her enough to make her CEO of his entire conglomerate. 

And if that wasn’t a declaration of love, she didn’t know what was. 

“Hey, baby.” 

Speak of the devil. 

Eyes still closed, Pepper leaned back in her seat and smiled, hearing Tony’s dress shoes walk across the marble tiles and around her desk.

Wordlessly leaning up at him, her lips meet his in a short, but sweet kiss, making the man chuckle softly against her lips. His goatee tickled her face as Pepper breathed in his cologne, the comforting scent instantly relieving her of any remaining anger. 

“Well, this is out of character for you. What’s up?” He immediately asked, rubbing her shoulders. The blonde opened her eyes, sighing softly. 

“Have you spoken to Peter today?”

Tony winced at the question, sighing as he rounded her desk once again, plopping himself ungracefully on one of the plush chairs. 

“I saw him when his class or whatever was training with Capsicle and the others,” Tony replied, his eyes far away from the conversation. She studied his facial expression, trying to decipher what he was talking about. “He had a panic attack because Barton dropped down on him during a spar.” 

“Is he all right?” Pepper automatically asked, her voice rising in concern.

She had seen Peter less than ten minutes ago; how the hell did she not see it? He had seemed perfectly fine, his usual sunshine self bursting the room with his pure energy. Yet it didn’t surprise her either because in so many aspects, Peter was practically a spitting clone of Tony. 

Masking their pain, taking on the world’s burdens, and caring for others before their own needs. The same love for invention and science, the same need to protect the world, and the same endless adoration for each other.

Peter was indeed Tony’s own, in everything except blood and legality.

“Yeah, yeah, he’s fine.” A tiredness came over her fiancé’s eyes, a familiar pained look crossing it. “For now anyways.”

“What was it?” Pepper asked, a warmth coating her voice, knowing Tony better than that. 

“He was crushed under a building, Pep.” He said, his voice as thick as syrup. The man closed his eyes in pain, the guilt from before rising to his chest. “When I took away the suit. After the ferry. He stopped the Vulture without the suit? He got crushed under a building when that asshole took out the foundation of the structure.” 

“Oh, _Tony_.” Hushed, yet horrified at this revelation, Pepper rose from her seat, going around to hug Tony’s head to her chest. 

“It’s my fault,” he whispered, the faintest hint of a sob hidden in his voice. The blond closed her eyes, refusing to let those three words affect her. 

Tony rarely ever admitted to having any faults. Ever. He would rather have a shrapnel impale him again than ever publicly admit to something being his fault. 

But not this time. 

Not when it involved Peter. 

Not with the one person on this God given earth that he valued more than anything; not with the one person that radiated innocence and love to even those who wanted him dead.

Not with the one person that he was able to freely drop his walls, his entire persona crashing within seconds for Peter.

“It’s not. You were trying to protect him.” Pepper blinked away her own tears, the cursed image of sweet Peter buried under a mountain of cement running through her eyes. 

“And look what happened.” 

“Tony. You can’t blame yourself.” 

The woman took his chin lightly, raising his face up to face her. She wasn’t surprised to see that his dark brown eyes were glassy, a hurt expression on his face. “He wouldn’t want you to blame yourself. Especially when I know he doesn’t.”

Tony wrapped his strong arms around his love, burying his head into her chest as she drew him closer, softly kissing his head. 

“I didn’t even know, Pep,” he said quietly, almost inaudible. “He’s had nightmares about it for months. And I still didn’t know.”

“You know he’s exactly like you in that way. He wouldn’t even tell a single soul if he was bleeding out. And you wouldn’t either.” 

Pepper pulled away slightly and cupped Tony’s cheek as she guided his head upwards once more, wiping away a stray tear. “Teach him. Teach him it’s okay to let people in.” 

“I can’t lose him, Pep, I _can’t_ ,” Tony whispered to her, all of his defense deflections crashing down.

The mere thought of losing Peter was unbearable to the man, even far greater than his parents’ deaths. Peter was, well, in the easiest, sense, just _Peter_ . He couldn’t, no, _wouldn’t_ , imagine a life without the boy around. Tony swore on his life that he would never let anything happen to his son if he could help it. 

“I know you can’t, Tony. Neither can I.” Pepper murmured, holding the love of her life closely for a few minutes as they regained control of their tender emotions. 

“What were you going to tell me?” Tony murmured, pulling away from her and brushing a stray piece of hair away from her cerulean blues.

The businesswoman looked into her lover’s eyes, losing her train of thought as she looked into his irises. 

Dark brown, filled with so much pain and hurt from the world. Blackened from being betrayed and attacked, tortured and burdened with the world’s enemies. Yet, Pepper knew, at the end of the day, she could never fall in love with another set of eyes the way she did with Tony’s. 

Because regardless of all the bullshit the world puts him through, regardless of everything he puts _himself_ through, there will never be a more powerfully loving man than Tony Stark. 

Ever. 

No one was guarded as him, yet no one loved as fiercely as he did.

And she wasn’t about to let that go.

“Do you remember the boy Flash?” Pepper asked gently, trying to sooth Tony before the tower ended up in flames. 

“Of course.” The man rolled his eyes, his soft eyes suddenly hardening at the realization of why Pepper would bring him up. “Why? Did he do something to Peter?” 

The woman nearly let out a laugh at the amount of concern in Tony’s voice, the sudden change so abrupt at even the _idea_ of something happening to their son. 

“Sort of. Honey, sit down.” Pepper quickly said as Tony yanked himself off the chair, a furious gleam in his eye. “Let me finish.”

Defeated by her tone, Tony begrudgingly sat himself down again, grumbling something about his lack of patience. 

Pepper rolled her eyes, clearing her throat. “F.R.I.D.A.Y., please play what happened earlier when I gave Peter his lunch.” 

“Certainly, Mrs. Stark.” The woman gave her fiancé a stink eye, only to receive a flirtatious wink in return before he settled his attention on the hologram recording. 

_“Who gets to visit the tower?” Flash’s voice suddenly filled the room. The boy strolled over to Peter’s table, interrupting their conversation._

Tony noticed the tiniest bit of a flinch when Flash finally came to a stop besides Peter.

_“We do! Peter’s letting me and MJ visit his lab!” Ned bragged to the bully, a gleam of bravery on his face._

_“What lab?” Flash scoffed. “As if Penis Parker actually has a lab here. Tony Stark probably keeps him around as a little play toy, like those gay ass soldiers.”_

_Peter suddenly froze, as well as his friends, who looked over at him with an alarmed expression, obviously knowing that Pepper had heard everything. His death grip on the table was noticeable, and Ned immediately clapped a hand on Peter’s shoulder to stop him from doing anything he would regret._

_“Fucking fags.” Flash scoffed, taking his tray and heading to a far table as MJ glared at him._

Anger surged through Tony’s veins as the hologram paused, and he violently swiped at it, making it vanish before the two. He couldn’t stand to listen to a second more of the recording. 

Who the hell gave that imbecile the right to say those things about his son? His _family_? 

He was going to fucking obliterate Flash. 

Sorry, kiddo. 

“Tony? Tony!” Pepper’s voice whipped at him like the wind, nearly knocking the breath he didn’t know he was holding out of him. He suddenly gasped for air, going to sit down (but when the hell did he stand up?) before he lost his anger. “ _Breathe_ , Tony.”

“Who the hell is he to fucking say that about them?” the man growled, his voice low and angry. Pepper sighed softly, going to rub the back of his back, in her secret spot where she knew would calm him down as it always did. 

“I know, baby, I know. And I give you full permission to make him pay for it,” Pepper whispered, cupping his face as he closed his eyes in rage. “Just don’t kill him.”

“I’m going to do worse,” the man declared, leaning into her touch for a moment before pulling away, flashing her a malicious grin. 

Flash’s words were repeating in his head, Peter’s hurt and furious expression stuck in his mind as he stood, his heart rate decreasing slightly as he calmed himself down. 

Slightly. 

“Tony…” her voice was a warning, making sure the billionaire remembered who he was and how the hit of a teenager could damage it. 

He paid no mind to his fiancee’s tone, waving her off. “Don’t worry. I’ve got this.” 

Tony smirked to himself, anger pulsing through his veins. 

“I’m going to make that boy wish he never spoke of Peter’s name ever in his life.” 

Let’s just get his heart condition regulated first, and then he’ll avenge Peter.


End file.
